Canadian artificial intelligence company Cohere is targeting up to CAD$7 billion in Series E funding at a proposed CAD$35.7 billion valuation, as demand for sovereign AI infrastructure intensifies among governments and regulated industries.
The Toronto-based company announced the initial closing of the financing round, led by companies within Germany’s Schwarz Group, with participation from the Canadian government, Bell Ventures and Bullhound Capital.
Existing investors NVIDIA, Inovia Capital and Prosperity7 Ventures are also participating.
Cohere claims the financing represents Canada’s largest private capital raise, although the company has not disclosed the amount secured in its initial closing.
The investment will support development of frontier AI models, dedicated computing infrastructure and industry-specific applications designed for organisations requiring greater control over sensitive data.
Cohere reported annual recurring revenue growth of 165% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2026, following the introduction of North, its agentic AI platform.
Its customer base expanded twentyfold over the preceding year to 300 organisations, including financial institutions, industrial companies and government customers.
Schwarz Group plans to integrate Cohere’s technology with its STACKIT sovereign cloud infrastructure, strengthening European alternatives to US-dominated AI platforms.
The Canadian government’s equity participation is intended to support domestic computing capacity, employment and national AI capabilities.
Cohere Chief Financial Officer Francois Chadwick said the funding would accelerate product development and expand operations across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
The financing highlights intensifying competition to commercialise AI systems without surrendering control of critical infrastructure.
