AI Startup Cohere Valued at $6.8 Billion in Latest Fundraising, Hires Meta Exec

Canadian AI startup Cohere raised $500 million in its latest funding round, pushing its valuation to $6.8 billion as it targets enterprise AI expansion. The round was led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from AMD Ventures, Nvidia (NVDA.O), PSP Investments, Salesforce Ventures, and other existing investors.

Unlike broad AI models from OpenAI or Meta’s Llama, Cohere focuses on enterprise-specific AI solutions. Co-founder Nick Frosst said the new funding will help the company expand globally, explore different AI modalities—including its recently launched Command Vision model—and continue building secure AI tools for businesses.

Cohere also appointed two senior executives: Joelle Pineau, former VP of AI Research at Meta (META.O), as chief AI officer, and Francois Chadwick, ex-Uber and Shield AI executive, as chief financial officer. Pineau led Meta’s Fundamental AI Research group until May 2025.

Earlier this year, Cohere launched North, a ChatGPT-style tool designed to assist knowledge workers with tasks like document summarization. The company plans to use the funding to develop agentic AI aimed at improving operational efficiency for businesses and government agencies.

The fundraising comes amid a broader surge in AI investment, with private equity firms and Big Tech pouring capital into startups to capture returns from innovative AI technologies.