Cohere Raises at a $20.5B Valuation as Canada and Nvidia Back Its Sovereign AI Push

Cohere, the Toronto-based enterprise AI developer, has completed the first close of a Series E round targeting up to US$5 billion (about C$7 billion) at a US$20.5 billion pre-money valuation, nearly triple its value a year ago. The Government of Canada and Nvidia (NVDA) are among the backers. Chief Financial Officer Francois Chadwick said most of the target was secured in the first close but did not say how much. If the round is completed, it would be the largest private fundraise in Canada's history.

The round

Adding the US$5 billion target to the US$20.5 billion pre-money value gives a post-money valuation of about US$25.5 billion by our calculation, which lines up with the C$35.7 billion figure. If the government invests its full maximum and the round reaches its target, its stake would be roughly 4.5% of the company, by our calculation. The government's commitment is a ceiling, not money already paid in.

Canada and the sovereign AI push

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the investment in Montréal, framing it as an investment in choice and security for Canadians, and Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said Canadians should not have to leave the country to build a successful company. Cohere plans to stay headquartered in Canada and to invest about US$1.2 billion (roughly C$1.7 billion) in computing infrastructure in the country by 2030, supporting the government's drive for AI sovereignty.

Business momentum

Cohere said annual recurring revenue grew more than 165% in the year to the end of September, helped by new customers and expansions after the launch of North, its agentic AI platform. Its customer count rose 20-fold to 300 over the year. Named customers include Aston Martin, Aramco, Bell Canada, Fujitsu, RBC, PwC, TD Bank and TKMS. The company focuses on secure, efficient AI for enterprises, including agents, coding, search and cybersecurity tools. Chadwick declined to disclose a revenue figure.

Proceeds will go toward hiring more than 1,000 people, building models and products for regulated industries, and some computing power to train frontier models.

Listing plans

Cohere has given no updated timeline for a public listing, and Chadwick declined to comment on plans for one. A completed round at this valuation would give the company a larger private base before any offering, a theme we also cover in our Anthropic IPO draft coverage.

What it means

The round shows governments and chipmakers backing a non-U.S. model developer to reduce reliance on American and Chinese AI providers. For Nvidia, it extends a pattern of investing in the customers that buy its GPUs. For investors watching private AI valuations, the tripling in a year is a data point on how much capital is flowing to enterprise-focused labs, not only consumer chatbots.

Sources: Cohere Series E announcement and related government remarks (Oct. 29, 2026). Canadian-dollar and U.S.-dollar conversions are approximate and by our calculation. This is informational, not a recommendation to buy or sell.