The Toronto AI company closed the first tranche of a record Canadian funding round at a C$35.7 billion valuation and is weighing more neocloud partnerships
Cohere has closed the initial tranche of a Series E round that aims to raise up to C$7 billion, or approximately $5.13 billion USD. The first close came on October 29, 2026, at a post-money valuation of C$35.7 billion.
If the full amount comes in, it would be the largest funding round ever for a Canadian technology company. The Toronto-based AI firm also has a clear plan for much of the money: more computing power, and more of it in Canada.
Cohere is also considering partnerships with neocloud providers to expand its AI computing capacity.
Who is writing the checks
The Schwarz Group is leading the round. The Government of Canada is in. So is Bell Ventures. Nvidia, which sells the chips everyone in AI is fighting over, is back as a returning supporter.
The federal government’s piece is the most interesting. Ottawa has committed to an equity stake of up to C$1.6 billion. That money depends on Cohere making infrastructure investments.
The neocloud angle
Cohere has already signed multi-year agreements for GPU clusters with BUZZ HPC and CoreWeave. Those deals are meant to support AI training.
The growth numbers behind the valuation
The company reports that its annual recurring revenue grew 165% year over year through Q3 2026. Its customer base, by Cohere’s account, grew 20x to 300.
It does not chase hundreds of millions of consumers with a chatbot. It sells to enterprises, and specifically targets regulated sectors where data handling rules are strict.
Where the money goes
Cohere plans to use the funding to push forward its AI model development, with particular attention to regulated industries. It also intends to invest substantially in computing infrastructure within Canada.
What this means
There are risks worth watching. The round targets up to C$7 billion, and only the initial tranche has closed so far, so the final amount remains to be seen.
The government’s C$1.6 billion commitment is contingent on infrastructure investments, which means Cohere has to actually build.
The next milestones to track are the final close of the Series E, any new neocloud agreements, and how quickly Canadian compute capacity actually comes online.
