Canadian AI startup Cohere has announced a successful $500m (C$690m) Series D funding round, boosting the company’s valuation to around $5.5bn (C$7.6bn).
The investment round was spearheaded by PSP Investments, a Canada-based pension investment manager.
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It also saw participation from a group of new investors, including Fujitsu, Cisco Systems, Canadian export credit agency EDC and Advanced Micro Devices’ AMD Ventures.
This latest financial boost significantly increases Cohere’s valuation from last year following a $270m Inovia Capital-led investment round, bringing Cohere’s cash haul to $970m, Bloomberg reported.
Cohere intends to use the funds to expand teams and enhance its enterprise-grade AI technology, the company said in a LinkedIn post.
“We’re leading the way for secure and scalable AI solutions designed to address real-world business problems across industries. Our latest round is a testament to this core mission – serving as a trusted AI partner to enterprises wherever they are, in whatever language they speak,” Cohere’s LinkedIn post read.
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By GlobalDataFounded in 2019, Cohere operates from dual headquarters in Toronto and San Francisco and maintains significant offices in London and New York.
The company specialises in developing enterprise AI models to address complex business challenges and is recognised for its data security emphasis.
Cohere’s cloud-agnostic AI solutions are tailored to meet the needs of various industries, offering robust security and privacy.
The company provides flexible deployment options, including on-premises and private cloud, to accommodate different data storage requirements.
Cohere’s large language models (LLM) are built from the ground up, a task that is both costly and technically demanding.
The company, which competes with other AI entities such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, said its clientele spans multiple sectors, including banking, technology, and retail.
As of the end of March 2024, Cohere reported an annualised revenue of $35m, a significant increase from the $13m recorded at the end of 2023, Bloomberg noted.
With a current workforce of around 250 employees, Cohere plans to double its headcount within the year.
