Cohere pledges $4B in Canadian R&D, 1,500 jobs

Toronto-based AI company Cohere said it will invest more than $4 billion in research and development and AI infrastructure in Canada through 2031, creating more than 1,500 jobs.

The company said about 1,000 of the new positions will focus on AI research, engineering, product development and other advanced technical work, according to its announcement, which was reported Monday by MobileSyrup and other outlets.

The pledge follows the federal government’s announcement last week that it will invest up to $1.6 billion in Cohere, as part of a wider financing round of about $7 billion. Reports on the deal put the company’s valuation at roughly $36 billion. The government has called it the largest federal equity investment in a single private technology company.

The two sets of commitments are not the same. The government said its money will be paid in stages, with regular reporting on jobs and investment in Canada, and that Cohere has committed to stay incorporated and headquartered in the country. Reports on the deal also said the company must invest at least $1.7 billion in Canadian computing infrastructure by 2030. The $4 billion and 1,500-job figures come from Cohere’s own announcement and run to 2031.

Questions remain about the terms of the federal stake, including how much control Ottawa will have over the company. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the investment will help produce “affordable, secure, sovereign AI, built in Canada for the benefit of Canadians.”

AI Minister Evan Solomon has said the Cohere stake will not be Ottawa’s last in a Canadian tech company. The announcement is the latest in a busy stretch for the company, which we reported earlier flagged an Alibaba model sending a file to China. Our earlier report on the federal investment has the details of the government deal.

The announcement also comes as other Canadian tech firms raise large rounds, including Wealthsimple, now valued at $13.8 billion.

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Sources: MobileSyrup; BetaKit; Cohere.