Cohere, a Toronto-based AI startup offering an AI platform for enterprises, has grabbed a whopping $270 million in new capital as part of its Series C funding round. The investment round was led by Inovia Capital (which backed Talent.com and Bloom), with additional participation from a diverse group of global institutional and strategic investors, including NVIDIA, Oracle, Salesforce Ventures, DTCP, Mirae Asset, Schroders Capital, SentinelOne, Thomvest Ventures, and returning investor Index Ventures. Reportedly, the company’s valuation has reached up to $2.2 billion.
Also, the group represents investors from the USA, Canada, Korea, the UK, and Germany, and some of the world’s most respected technology companies.
With this investment, Cohere will aim to accelerate its leadership position, giving enterprises the power of AI on the cloud platform of their choice, keeping their data private and secure.
“AI will be the heart that powers the next decade of business success,” said Aidan Gomez, CEO and co-founder, Cohere. “As the early excitement about generative AI shifts toward ways to accelerate businesses, companies are looking to Cohere to position them for success in a new era of technology. The next phase of AI products and services will revolutionise business, and we are ready to lead the way.”
“We are at the beginning of a new era driven by accelerated computing and generative AI,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “The team at Cohere has made foundational contributions to generative AI. Their service will help enterprises around the world harness these capabilities to automate and accelerate.”
“Our entire raison d’être is to invest in great entrepreneurs who have great worldwide mission and ambitions,” said Steve Woods, CTO and Partner, Inovia Capital. “Very few ideas can fundamentally change society and add more value to humankind. This is obviously one such opportunity and we are thrilled to partner with Cohere to be a part of it.”
“Cohere has a rare combination of top-tier talent, the most innovative technology and is best positioned to seize the global enterprise market opportunity for Generative AI and LLMs,” said Lance Matthews, Managing Director, DTCP. “Our unique fund structure and relationships allows us to gather a coalition of global institutional and strategic investors including Deutsche Telekom to accelerate Cohere’s vision to bring this technology to enterprises worldwide.”
AI platform designed for enterprises
Founded in 2019 by two Canadian ex-Google researchers Aidan Gomez and Nick Frosst, Cohere has been building technology that businesses can use to deploy chatbots, search engines, and other AI-driven products.
Cohere’s AI platform is uniquely designed for enterprises, offering data-secure deployment options in companies’ existing cloud environments, customisation, and customer support. This includes an ecosystem of consulting and system integrator partners to help enterprises at any stage in their AI journey.
The company’s enterprise AI suite is cloud-agnostic, offering the highest levels of flexibility and data privacy. The platform is built to be available on every cloud provider, deployed inside a customers’ existing cloud environment, virtual private cloud (VPC), or even on-site, to meet companies where their data is. This empowers businesses to transform existing products and build the next era-defining generation of innovative solutions all while keeping their data secure.
The AI funding boom
Already, the world of AI has been experiencing an unprecedented funding boom, with significant investments pouring into innovative AI startups. This year has witnessed a flurry of funding activity, reflecting the immense potential and growing demand for AI technologies across various industries. From market intelligence platforms like AlphaSense securing $100 million in funding to Character.ai raising $150 million for their personalized AI chatbot creation, investors are recognising the transformative power of AI. Additionally, Adept AI’s $350 million Series B funding and Microsoft’s colossal $10 billion investment in OpenAI further contribute to the AI funding boom.
These investments not only fuel the growth and development of AI startups but also indicate the widespread belief in the revolutionary impact that AI can have on our future. As AI continues to evolve and demonstrate its capabilities, the funding boom showcases the strong market appetite for cutting-edge AI solutions and sets the stage for further advancements in this transformative field.
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