Canadian-German AI leaders Cohere and Aleph Alpha have signed a deal to combine operations under the Cohere name while establishing governance safeguards tied to digital sovereignty.

TORONTO and HEIDELBERG, Germany, Sept. 16, 2026 — Cohere and Aleph Alpha, two established providers of secure, sovereign AI for governments and highly regulated industries, today announced the signing of a definitive business combination agreement, following the initial announcement in April. Operating globally under the Cohere name, the unified company will effectively create the first transatlantic sovereign AI solution. The transaction remains subject to final regulatory approvals and is expected to close later this year, with further integration and product details to follow. The announcement was supported by Canadian Minister for Artificial Intelligence Evan Solomon, Cohere Co-founder and CEO Aidan Gomez, Federal Minister for Digital Affairs Karsten Wildberger, and Aleph Alpha Co-CEO Samuel Weinbach.

As part of the combined company’s next phase of growth, Cohere will expand its leadership team with two senior appointments effective upon deal close. Ilhan Scheer, currently Co-CEO of Aleph Alpha, will become Chief Operating Officer, leading the company’s global operating model and organizational scaling. He previously founded fable+, a data analytics and transformation company acquired by Accenture, where he served as Managing Director overseeing a global portfolio of enterprise transformation products, and is co-author of *Decision Intelligence* (Wiley).

“Over the past twelve months, we have sharpened our focus on specialized language models for governments and regulated industries,” said Scheer. “Cohere is a strong strategic fit for this work, bringing global reach and deployment capabilities that complement our research expertise. Together, we can bring what our team has built to more organizations worldwide. This strengthens our ability to deliver on our mission: giving organizations control over the AI they rely on.”

Samuel Weinbach, co-founder and Co-Chief Research Officer of Aleph Alpha, will become Chief Research Officer of Cohere, advancing the company’s research and technological development. His scientific work spans tokenization, language model training, explainability, and image generation. Both appointments are contingent on completion of the transaction.

The company will remain deeply rooted in both Canada and Germany, with dual headquarters in Toronto and Berlin, alongside dedicated R&D centers and leadership roles in each country. The transaction will increase Cohere’s employee headcount to more than 1,000 across both continents, while plans call for keeping Aleph Alpha’s Heidelberg office as a research center. The combined entity will bring together deep research expertise, enterprise-grade solutions, and long-standing public sector partnerships across North America and Europe.

As the first foundational model developer anchored on both sides of the Atlantic, Cohere will deliver AI solutions aligned with the sovereignty requirements of both Canada and Germany. The combined company will operate within the applicable legal and regulatory frameworks of both jurisdictions, including requirements governing the protection and handling of sensitive data and technology. Its structure incorporates safeguards and oversight mechanisms that reinforce operational control, accountability, and compliance across both markets.

“No government or enterprise should have to choose between capable AI and control over their technology,” said Aidan Gomez, Co-founder and CEO of Cohere. “That belief is exactly why we’re joining forces with Aleph Alpha to enhance the talent, infrastructure and institutional trust behind our mission. Together, we’ll move faster to meet the rising global demand for frontier AI that’s powerful enough to compete, but secure and governable enough to trust.”

The company will also advance its partnership with the Schwarz Group to deliver sovereign AI on STACKIT, Schwarz Digits’ sovereign cloud service and a cornerstone of Europe’s digital sovereignty strategy.

“Digital sovereignty is not about going it alone, but about strategically joining forces,” said Christian Müller, CEO of Schwarz Digits. “This transatlantic alliance represents a massive leap forward accelerating the development of an independent AI infrastructure. With the goal of establishing STACKIT as the technical backbone for sovereign AI solutions, we ensure organizations do not have to choose between high performance and digital independence. By partnering with those who uncompromisingly share our strict values and data security standards, we are sustainably strengthening the sovereign digital future of Europe and Canada.”

Founded in 2019, Cohere is the world’s leading sovereign AI company, building foundation models and end-to-end AI products to solve real-world business problems. The company partners with organizations to deliver seamless integration, deep customization, and user-friendly solutions. Its all-in-one platform provides maximum security, privacy, and deployment flexibility across clouds, private on-premises environments, and fully air-gapped settings. Headquartered globally in Toronto, San Francisco, and Germany, Cohere operates additional offices in London, New York, Montreal, Paris, and Seoul, serving customers worldwide. The company has raised approximately $1.6 billion USD from strategic tech investors (Nvidia, AMD Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Oracle, Cisco), institutional investors (Radical Ventures, Inovia Capital, PSP Investments, HOOPP, BDC, Nexxus), and AI pioneers including Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Pieter Abbeel, and Raquel Urtasun. For more information, visit cohere.com.

Founded in 2019 with the mission to research and build sovereign, human-centric AI for a better world, Aleph Alpha employs an international team of scientists and engineers developing Specialized Large Language Models. Its co-created solutions are the preferred choice for companies and government institutions seeking to maintain sovereignty, secure data, and develop trustworthy applications. Headquartered in Heidelberg, Aleph Alpha employs approximately 200 professionals across four locations in Germany. For more information, visit aleph-alpha.com.