cohere hits $7b valuation a month after its last raise, partners with amd

Cohere Secures Additional Funding and Expands GPU Support

Cohere, a leading developer of enterprise AI models, announced on Wednesday that it has successfully raised an additional $100 million in funding.

This extension to a funding round initially revealed in August brings the company’s total valuation to $7 billion.

Details of the Funding Round

The previous funding round, disclosed in August, was already oversubscribed, totaling $500 million and establishing a valuation of $6.8 billion.

This latest investment demonstrates continued confidence in Cohere’s trajectory and potential within the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

Strategic Partnership with AMD

In a noteworthy development, Cohere has forged a partnership with AMD, a significant investor in the company.

This collaboration distinguishes Cohere from competitors like OpenAI, which recently secured a substantial investment from Nvidia.

Expanding GPU Compatibility

Cohere’s comprehensive suite of Command-family AI models – encompassing Command vision, translate, and reasoning capabilities – are now optimized to operate on AMD’s Instinct GPU.

The Instinct GPU serves as a direct competitor to Nvidia’s offerings in the GPU market.

Furthermore, AMD will integrate Cohere’s technology internally as a customer, showcasing a practical application of the partnership.

Cohere has clarified that it will continue to support Nvidia GPUs alongside AMD, maintaining a multi-platform approach.

Cohere’s Origins and Current Position

Founded in 2019 by Aidan Gomez, a key contributor to the groundbreaking “transformer” paper, Cohere quickly emerged as a frontrunner in the AI model development race.

While achieving a $7 billion valuation within six years is impressive, the company has faced increasing competition from OpenAI and Anthropic.

OpenAI’s valuation reportedly reached $500 billion last month, while Anthropic achieved a $183 billion valuation earlier this month.

Focus on Enterprise AI Sovereignty

Cohere differentiates itself by concentrating on the enterprise market, specifically addressing the growing need for AI sovereignty.

This involves maintaining local control over data and models, rather than relying on external entities.

The latest $100 million funding round included investments from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Nexxus Capital Management, a firm with a strong network in Singapore.

Note: This article has been updated to accurately reflect the international scope of investor Nexxus Capital Management.