(Bloomberg) — Cohere Inc., the Nvidia Corp.-backed artificial intelligence startup that raised funds at a $7 billion valuation a month ago, is holding a so-called tender for employees who want to sell their stakes in the company to outside investors.
Current employees are being offered the chance to participate in the secondary sale, the company said Monday, as opposed to waiting for a public listing or takeover to cash out. The firm, co-headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, also said it has reached $150 million in annualized revenue, a projection of a company’s sales over the course of a year based on recent performance. That’s up from $100 million in May.
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here
Founded in 2019, Cohere is focused on building and selling customizable AI software to businesses rather than consumers and has worked to differentiate itself with an emphasis on highly secure systems that protect sensitive data. But the AI model developer is facing intensifying competition from better-funded rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic, which are targeting the enterprise market to offset the immense cost of AI development — and to more quickly prove their profit-making potential.
Cohere has raised roughly $1.6 billion. It announced a $500 million funding round in August that was led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from existing investors including Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s AMD Ventures. A month later, the company locked in another $100 million as part of a second close that valued the firm at about $7 billion.
Cohere recently brought on two new executives in key roles. Joelle Pineau, who previously oversaw AI research at Meta Platforms Inc., joined as Cohere’s chief AI officer. And Francois Chadwick, a former Uber Technologies Inc. executive, took over as the startup’s chief financial officer.
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(Bloomberg) — Cohere Inc., the Nvidia Corp.-backed artificial intelligence startup that raised funds at a $7 billion valuation a month ago, is holding a so-called tender for employees who want to sell their stakes in the company to outside investors.
Current employees are being offered the chance to participate in the secondary sale, the company said Monday, as opposed to waiting for a public listing or takeover to cash out. The firm, co-headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, also said it has reached $150 million in annualized revenue, a projection of a company’s sales over the course of a year based on recent performance. That’s up from $100 million in May.
Most Read from Bloomberg
here
Founded in 2019, Cohere is focused on building and selling customizable AI software to businesses rather than consumers and has worked to differentiate itself with an emphasis on highly secure systems that protect sensitive data. But the AI model developer is facing intensifying competition from better-funded rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic, which are targeting the enterprise market to offset the immense cost of AI development — and to more quickly prove their profit-making potential.
Cohere has raised roughly $1.6 billion. It announced a $500 million funding round in August that was led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from existing investors including Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s AMD Ventures. A month later, the company locked in another $100 million as part of a second close that valued the firm at about $7 billion.
Cohere recently brought on two new executives in key roles. Joelle Pineau, who previously oversaw AI research at Meta Platforms Inc., joined as Cohere’s chief AI officer. And Francois Chadwick, a former Uber Technologies Inc. executive, took over as the startup’s chief financial officer.
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©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
