Aidan Gomez, CEO of Cohere Inc., attends the Bloomberg Tech Summit on Tuesday, October 21, 2025 in London, UK.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Artificial intelligence startup Cohere told investors it has momentum in winning enterprise customers, even as rivals do the same. googleAnthropic and OpenAI’s claws vie for market share.
Kohia’s annual recurring revenue reached about $240 million last year, exceeding its $200 million target, according to a February investor memo seen by CNBC. According to the memo, growth was more than 50% quarter-over-quarter through 2025.
“Our claims are clearly resonating with the market,” the company said. “Our sales pipeline continues to grow as global organizations across regulated sectors choose Cohere as their trusted partner for secure AI deployments at scale.”
Founded in Toronto in 2019, Cohere develops models and builds software tools for businesses. The company is backed by investors including: Nvidia and salesforce venturesits valuation has ballooned to about $7 billion.
Cohere’s investor note was issued after CEO Aidan Gomez said in October that the company hoped to make a public market debut “soon.” He told Bloomberg that he thinks investors would welcome “pure AI investment opportunities.”
But Cohere competitors OpenAI and Anthropic are also considering a potential IPO, according to people familiar with the companies’ thinking. And they weren’t shy about their ambition to win in the enterprise market.
OpenAI announced in November that more than 1 million companies worldwide use its technology, and Anthropic said in September that it serves more than 300,000 companies. This huge customer base poses a challenge for other startups looking to catch up.
Kohia told investors that its “capital efficient model” differentiates it from industry rivals.
The company generates revenue primarily from software, which allows customers to run models through managed cloud services or directly on their own hardware, avoiding significant infrastructure costs, the company said. This approach will allow Cohere to invest “more aggressively” in customer acquisition and research and development, according to a memo to investors.
Kohia’s gross profit margin will average about 70% in 2025, expanding 25 basis points from a year ago, the memo said.
“Scaling our computing resources in proportion to customer demand insulates us from the excesses of speculation surrounding the broader AI market and positions Cohere for more sustainable growth,” Cohere wrote.
Cohere said it will continue its expansion in Europe in 2026, building an AI agent platform called North. The company told investors it expects “rapid growth” again this year.
Spotlight: Cohere CEO addresses barriers to AI adoption in enterprises
