Cohere

Founding and company background

Aidan Gomez, Nick Frosst and Ivan Zhang founded Cohere in Toronto in 2019. The company has focused on enterprise AI since its early development. Its business now includes foundation models, search tools and the North workplace platform.

Current leadership

Cohere's current leadership page lists Aidan Gomez as co-founder and CEO, Joelle Pineau as Chief AI Officer, and Phil Blunsom as Chief Technology Officer. François Chadwick is Chief Financial Officer. Nick Frosst and Ivan Zhang remain listed as co-founders.

Headquarters and international presence

Cohere's company profile identifies Toronto, Ontario, as its headquarters. Its website also lists offices in Montreal, New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, Seoul and Berlin.

Ownership and funding

Cohere is privately held. On 29 October 2026, it announced the initial close of a Series E round targeting up to C$7 billion. Schwarz Group led the round. Named participants include Bell Ventures, Bullhound Capital, Inovia Capital, NVIDIA, Prosperity7 Ventures and the Government of Canada. The target is not presented here as the amount already raised.

Research and business milestones

Cohere launched its open-science research initiative, now called Cohere Labs, in 2022. It launched North in 2025, extending its business from model services into a workplace AI platform.

On 16 September 2026, Cohere announced a definitive business combination agreement with Aleph Alpha. The announcement described planned headquarters in Toronto and Berlin, with Heidelberg retained as a research center. The transaction and associated leadership appointments remained subject to completion. Cohere's 29 October update still described completing the combination as a future step.