Canada to Take Equity Stake in AI Firm Cohere — Update

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA--Canada said it would take an equity stake in Toronto-based Cohere as part of the aritificial-intelligence company's latest multibillion-dollar funding round that attracted commitments from chip-maker Nvidia, the German conglomerate Schwarz Group, and telecommunications firm BCE.

Cohere said Thursday it targeted about 7 billion Canadian dollars (US$5 billion) in pledged financing, with the Canadian government accounting for nearly a quarter of the contribution. The company said its latest funding round places its valuation at C$35.7 billion.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada's C$1.6 billion investment is part of the country's effort to build up its AI sovereignty. Earlier in the day, officials released a revised national-security strategy in which investments in artificial intelligence and secure cloud storage are listed as a policy priority.

"We're not waiting for the future of AI to be decided somewhere else by those we don't know or by whom we don't trust. We are building it right here, the right way," Carney said at a press conference in Montreal.

"Canadians will only embrace artificial intelligence if they have confidence in its ability to protect their personal information," the prime minister added.

The financial commitments from the Carney-led government, Germany's Schwarz Group, Nvidia, BCE and others marked the largest private-capital fundraising round for a technology company in Canadian history, Cohere Chief Executive Aidan Gomez said.

The money committed "is a vote in confidence in Canada's ability to build world-leading technology," Gomez said, adding that the C$7 billion would help Cohere invest in the computing infrastructure and research required to expand, as well as help it attract and retain world-leading talent.

In an accompanying statement, Canada said its funding would be delivered in stages, and contains several conditions. Among them is that Cohere create at least 1,000 new high-paying jobs in the country, maintain its headquarters in the country, and deploy nearly C$2 billion in additional domestic computing infrastructure.

Earlier this year, Cohere said it would merge with Germany's Aleph Alpha, a combination presents as an alternative to offerings from Silicon Valley. Cohere said the mergered company is keen to tap growing demand in so-called middle powers for technologies that aren't dependent on U.S. tech giants, nor on offerings from China.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 29, 2026 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT)