Cohere has secured $500 million in fresh funding, lifting its valuation to $6.8 billion, as the enterprise AI company accelerates the rollout of its security-first agentic AI platform designed to improve organizational productivity. With the latest investment, Cohere plans to deepen its research capabilities, expand its product portfolio, and accelerate global market penetration.
The funding marks one of the largest AI-focused capital raises of the year. The oversubscribed round was co-led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from new backers such as the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and continued support from existing investors including AMD Ventures, NVIDIA, PSP Investments, and Salesforce Ventures.
The funding round comes as businesses and governments worldwide seek secure, customizable AI systems that can automate repetitive processes without compromising sensitive data. Cohere positions its platform as a clear alternative to repurposed consumer AI models, which the company argues fall short in meeting enterprise-grade security, regulatory, and data governance requirements.
Cohere’s approach to agentic AI focuses on enabling automated systems to handle complex workflows while allowing employees to concentrate on strategic, creative, and human-centered tasks. The company’s flagship platform, North, integrates its generative AI models – Command A and Command A Vision – with retrieval models such as Embed 4 and Rerank 3.5, alongside enterprise-grade applications built for industries ranging from manufacturing and healthcare to energy, finance, and telecommunications.
The announcement also coincides with significant additions to Cohere’s leadership team. Joelle Pineau, a prominent figure in artificial intelligence research, joins as Chief AI Officer. Based in Montreal, Pineau is a founding member of Mila – the Québec AI Institute – and a professor at McGill University’s School of Computer Science. She previously served as VP of AI Research at Meta, leading its Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) division.
Francois Chadwick joins as Chief Financial Officer, bringing experience from high-profile roles including CFO at Uber during its IPO and CFO at Shield AI. Most recently, he was with KPMG advising fast-growth digital firms. Based in San Francisco, Chadwick will oversee finance and business operations as Cohere scales to meet global demand.
Over the past year, Cohere has expanded rapidly, forging strategic partnerships with major enterprises including Oracle, Dell, RBC, Bell, Fujitsu, LG CNS, SAP, and Ensemble Health Partners. These collaborations aim to deliver AI-powered solutions tailored to critical sectors, supporting applications such as industrial process optimization, patient care enhancement, financial compliance, and public-sector service delivery.
Cohere co-founder and CEO Aidan Gomez described the funding as a pivotal step in enabling secure AI deployment at scale. He emphasized that the combination of security, customization, and cloud-agnostic flexibility is key to unlocking enterprise adoption. “We are at a critical juncture in the implementation of safe AI that enables businesses globally,” said Aidan Gomez. “With Joelle and Francois joining our leadership team, we’re positioned to accelerate innovation and meet the needs of a rapidly growing customer base.”
Jordan Jacobs, co-founder and managing partner at Radical Ventures, said the firm has backed Cohere since its inception, highlighting its focus on privacy-first, enterprise-ready AI models that deliver measurable returns for blue-chip companies and public institutions. Inovia Capital Partner Patrick Pichette, who will join Cohere’s board, underscored the company’s “unwavering focus on customers’ time to value, data privacy, and customization” as differentiators in the global AI market.
Cohere’s growth strategy hinges on the increasing demand for AI systems that balance advanced automation with stringent security and compliance, a requirement that is becoming central to enterprise AI adoption worldwide.
