Canadian AI research institute Cohere on Friday announced plans to acquire German AI company Aleph Alpha in a bid to significantly expand in Europe.
As part of the deal, Aleph Alpha’s primary backer, Schwarz Group, will invest $600 million in Cohere’s upcoming Series E round. The company plans to close the round in 2026, a person familiar with Cohere’s plans told CNBC.
The deal has not yet closed and the acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of regulatory conditions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 2019, Cohere has already raised $1.6 billion from investors including: Nvidia and AMD. It was valued at $7 billion in 2025.
“Combining the strengths of Cohere and Aleph Alpha will accelerate our global expansion and advance our mission to bring sovereign AI to countries around the world,” Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Cohere, said in a statement.
“This transatlantic partnership will unlock the massive scale, robust infrastructure and world-class research and development talent needed to meet that demand,” he added. “Built on shared Canadian and German values where privacy, security and responsible innovation are paramount, we are uniquely positioned to be the world’s trusted AI partner.”
Through the planned partnership, Cohere aims to enhance the delivery of secure and customized AI for highly regulated sectors such as public sector, finance, defence, energy, manufacturing, telecommunications and healthcare.
Cohere said Aleph Alpha’s experience in deploying AI in long-term customer relationships provides an important foundation for this sovereign service.
“This deal gives Kohia access to Europe’s largest economy,” the person told CNBC. “(The company) was looking to expand across Europe and this will speed up the process significantly.”
Aleph Alpha’s existing commercial contracts with the German public sector were also attractive, they added. The company cooperates with Germany’s Ministry of Digital Affairs and National Modernization and the Baden-Württemberg state government.
Aleph Alpha was founded in 2019 to build large-scale language models (LLMs) before pivoting to developing AI applications. Dealroom says it has raised more than $600 million from investors and grants.
“Together with Cohere, we are building a real antidote for organizations that refuse to delegate control of AI to a single provider or jurisdiction, giving European institutions and businesses access to powerful yet controllable AI that they can truly own,” said Ilhan Scheer, co-CEO of Aleph Alpha.
