Latest news with #JoellePineau
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cohere hits US$6.8-billion valuation and snags Meta's former AI head
Canada's top-funded artificial intelligence startup has secured a US$500 million fundraise that boosts Cohere Inc.'s valuation to US$6.8 billion as it tries to become a mainstay in a heavily funded and increasingly competitive race to supply businesses and governments with AI services. The Toronto-headquartered company has also added a key figure to its AI personnel by hiring Meta Platforms Inc.'s former AI head Joelle Pineau as its chief AI officer. Pineau will lead the company's research and product development efforts from Montreal, where Cohere opened a new office last month – its second in Canada. 'We are at a pivotal moment in accelerating the delivery of secure AI that empowers enterprises worldwide, and we're excited to enter this new phase of expansion,' Cohere cofounder and chief executive Aidan Gomez said in a statement on Thursday. Cohere, which creates AI models for businesses, has rapidly scaled the ranks to become Canada's most valuable and most-funded AI startup since its founding in 2019. Its latest funding round was led by Toronto-based Radical Ventures Investments Inc. and Montreal-based Inovia Capital Inc., and included participation from existing investors such as chip behemoth Nvidia Corp., AMD Ventures, the venture capital arm of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. Its valuation has shot up from US$5.5 billion since its last funding round in June 2024 and has soared 200 per cent since its June 2023 fundraising round. Though Cohere's size and business remain small compared to its Silicon Valley peers — the likes of OpenAI Inc. and Anthropic PBC, which are targeting valuations of US$300 billion and US$170 billion, respectively — it is hedging its bets on helping businesses and governments worldwide integrate its AI models and systems. For example, it teamed up in January with the Royal Bank of Canada, the country's biggest bank and most valuable company, to develop North for Banking, an AI platform for financial services. More recently, Cohere has announced a slew of private- and public-sector deals, in addition to new offices in Montreal and Seoul, South Korea. In early August, Cohere launched its AI agent service and is working with 'large enterprises across key markets in North America, APAC, and EMEA' to integrate the platform. Last month, the company struck an alliance with BCE Inc. to sell AI tools to Canadian organizations. From January to May 2025, Cohere doubled its annualized revenue to US$100 million thanks to a growing enterprise list, according to a Reuters story in May. Around 85 per cent of its business comes from private-sector deals with companies such as Dell Technologies Inc., Oracle Systems Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and LG Corp. The company is also ramping up its public-sector push. It recently partnered with Canada and the United Kingdom to allow the two governments to use its AI tools to 'enhance government services and national sovereignty,' and teamed up with Second Front Systems Inc., a Virginia-based software firm, to deploy AI across the United States Department of Defense and allied government agencies. Cohere's recruitment of Pineau will augment its AI firepower. She's a well-known name in AI circles who served as the head of Meta's Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) labs across North America and Europe, where she developed new models and algorithms for games, conversational agents, robotics and more. She also serves as a core academic member of Mila, the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, and as a computer science professor at McGill University. 'Cohere was incredibly appealing to me because they are implementing AI in ways that fundamentally are changing how businesses and governments operate,' she said in a statement. Cohere launches AI agent platform for businesses Canada's leading tech startup Cohere strikes alliance with BCE to sell AI tools On Thursday, Cohere also announced that it had hired Francois Chadwick, a former executive at Uber Technologies Inc., as its chief financial officer. • Email: ylau@ Sign in to access your portfolio
Calgary Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Cohere hits US$6.8-billion valuation and snags Meta's former AI head
Canada's top-funded artificial intelligence startup has secured a US$500 million fundraise that boosts Cohere Inc. 's valuation to US$6.8 billion as it tries to become a mainstay in a heavily funded and increasingly competitive race to supply businesses and governments with AI services. Article content The Toronto-headquartered company has also added a key figure to its AI personnel by hiring Meta Platforms Inc. 's former AI head Joelle Pineau as its chief AI officer. Pineau will lead the company's research and product development efforts from Montreal, where Cohere opened a new office last month – its second in Canada. Article content Article content Its latest funding round was led by Toronto-based Radical Ventures Investments Inc. and Montreal-based Inovia Capital Inc., and included participation from existing investors such as chip behemoth Nvidia Corp., AMD Ventures, the venture capital arm of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. Article content Its valuation has shot up from US$5.5 billion since its last funding round in June 2024 and has soared 200 per cent since its June 2023 fundraising round. Article content Article content Though Cohere's size and business remain small compared to its Silicon Valley peers — the likes of OpenAI Inc. and Anthropic PBC, which are targeting valuations of US$300 billion and US$170 billion, respectively — it is hedging its bets on helping businesses and governments worldwide integrate its AI models and systems. Article content Article content For example, it teamed up in January with the Royal Bank of Canada, the country's biggest bank and most valuable company, to develop North for Banking, an AI platform for financial services. Article content More recently, Cohere has announced a slew of private- and public-sector deals, in addition to new offices in Montreal and Seoul, South Korea. Article content In early August, Cohere launched its AI agent service and is working with 'large enterprises across key markets in North America, APAC, and EMEA' to integrate the platform. Last month, the company struck an alliance with BCE Inc. to sell AI tools to Canadian organizations.
CNBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
AI startup Cohere valued at $6.8 billion in latest fundraise, appoints new executives
Cohere was valued at $6.8 billion after its latest $500 million funding round, as the artificial intelligence startup moves to expand its market share in a highly competitive industry. The funding round was led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from existing investors AMD Ventures, Nvidia, PSP Investments, and Salesforce Ventures, among others. Unlike most AI companies like OpenAI and Meta's Llama, which are focused on broad foundational models, Cohere builds enterprise-specific AI models. In January, it launched North, a ChatGPT-style tool designed to help knowledge workers with tasks such as document summarization. The company said it will use the new funding to advance agentic AI that can help businesses and governments operate more efficiently. Alongside the fundraise, Cohere appointed Joelle Pineau, former Vice President of AI Research at Meta, as Chief AI Officer, and Francois Chadwick, former CFO at Uber and Shield AI, as Chief Financial Officer. The fundraise comes amid a broader surge in AI financing, as private equity and Big Tech channel capital into startups in pursuit of strong returns from innovative AI products.
The Star
5 days ago
- Business
- The Star
AI startup Cohere valued at $6.8 billion in latest fundraise, appoints new executives
(Reuters) -Cohere was valued at $6.8 billion after its latest $500 million funding round, as the artificial intelligence startup moves to expand its market share in a highly competitive industry. The funding round was led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from existing investors AMD Ventures, NVIDIA, PSP Investments, and Salesforce Ventures, among others. Unlike most AI companies like OpenAI and Meta's Llama, which are focused on broad foundational models, Cohere builds enterprise-specific AI models. In January, it launched North, a ChatGPT-style tool designed to help knowledge workers with tasks such as document summarization. The company said it will use the new funding to advance agentic AI that can help businesses and governments operate more efficiently. Alongside the fundraise, Cohere appointed Joelle Pineau, former Vice President of AI Research at Meta, as Chief AI Officer, and Francois Chadwick, former CFO at Uber and Shield AI, as Chief Financial Officer. The fundraise comes amid a broader surge in AI financing, as private equity and Big Tech channel capital into startups in pursuit of strong returns from innovative AI products. (Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru)
The Verge
5 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Cohere hired Meta's former AI research lead as its new chief AI officer.
Posted Aug 14, 2025 at 3:59 PM UTC Cohere hired Meta's former AI research lead as its new chief AI officer. Joelle Pineau, who oversaw Meta's fundamental AI research (FAIR) lab until she departed in April, wrote that the new executive role at the AI startup would be an 'exciting new chapter.' Joelle Pineau's post [X (formerly Twitter)] Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates. Hayden Field Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Hayden Field Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All AI Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Meta Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech
