Canada's Cohere to buy German AI startup Aleph Alpha

(Sharecast News) - Canadian artificial intelligence company Cohere on Friday said it planned to buy German AI company Aleph Alpha for an undisclosed sum.

As part of the deal, Lidl owner Schwarz Group plans to invest $600m in Cohere's upcoming Series E round. The company expects to close that round sometime in 2026, a source familiar with Cohere's plans told CNBC.

"We are bringing ​Aleph Alpha into Cohere, and we are going to merge ⁠the two entities," Cohere CFO Francois Chadwick told the Reuters news agency in ​an interview. "We are going to commit to working with European infrastructure ... and ​maintain the sovereignty requirements that are being addressed in Europe."

Cohere's shareholders are set to receive around 90% of the shares in the combined company, whilst Aleph Alpha's shareholders will receive around 10%, according to German daily newspaper Handelsblatt which first reported the news.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com