Cohere hits $100M annualized revenue and acquires Cognosys, but falls short of earlier projections, sparking mixed reactions from investors.
Revenue Milestone Reached—but Expectations Missed
Canadian AI startup Cohere is sending mixed signals about its financial health. While the company recently surpassed $100 million USD in annualized revenue—an achievement that typically marks a turning point for tech firms—internal forecasts paint a less flattering picture.
The Toronto-based firm reportedly fell short of its 2023 revenue targets by 85 percent, according to The Information. Though this milestone may place Cohere in centaur territory, the gap between expectation and reality is raising investor eyebrows.
Monthly Growth Gains, But Below Original Targets
While Reuters celebrated Cohere’s financial leap forward, The Information’s report exposed a stark contrast between projected and actual growth. Cohere had previously told investors it expected $444.3 million USD in annualized revenue by the end of 2024—a figure it’s currently far from reaching.
Cohere declined to comment directly on the financial discrepancy but emphasized momentum. Communications head Josh Gartner stated the company is “now seeing the hockey stick-shaped revenue growth we anticipated… albeit slightly later than originally expected.”
Strategic Acquisition Strengthens Enterprise Platform
In a bid to bolster its enterprise offerings, Cohere has acquired Vancouver-based AI agent startup Cognosys. The deal will see Cognosys’s Ottogrid platform integrated into Cohere’s workplace tool, North, which enables employees to search, generate, and analyze internal data efficiently.
Cognosys CEO Sully Omar described the integration as a game changer, noting it would “dramatically impact how people can automate their workflows, enrich their data, and scale operations.”
Growing Support, Expanding Reach
Despite its revenue miss, Cohere is drawing strong institutional support. The firm raised $500 million USD in Series D funding in 2024 at a $5.5-billion valuation, bringing total fundraising to over $900 million USD. Key enterprise clients include Fujitsu and Royal Bank of Canada.
The company is also Canada’s most heavily funded large-language model (LLM) developer and the first recipient of funding from the federal government’s $2-billion Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. In December, it secured $240 million CAD to develop a national AI data centre.
Leaner Models and Enterprise Ambitions
In a December 2024 memo, CEO Aidan Gomez shared that Cohere would shift focus from general-purpose LLMs to more tailored, resource-efficient models. Its latest release, Command R+, reportedly outperformed competitors on benchmarks with significantly less computing power.
At the 2025 World Summit AI in Montréal, Cohere’s North platform was promoted as a user-friendly solution to democratize enterprise AI use. According to strategy lead Lewis Stott, North is designed for non-technical teams to accelerate research and reporting with minimal friction.
Stay tuned to Maple News Wire for more insights on Canada’s AI sector, funding updates, and emerging tech stories.
