Cohere Signs Definitive Agreement to Combine with Aleph Alpha

Cohere and Aleph Alpha announced on September 16, 2026 that they have signed a definitive business combination agreement, formalizing the planned combination the companies first disclosed in April 2026. The unified company will operate globally as Cohere and will be dual-headquartered in Berlin and Toronto. The transaction remains subject to final regulatory approvals and is expected to close later in 2026.

The companies describe the combined firm as creating the first transatlantic sovereign AI solution, bringing together deep research expertise, enterprise-grade solutions, and long-standing public sector partnerships across Canada and Europe. Both companies are established providers of secure, sovereign AI for governments and highly regulated industries.

The transaction will increase Cohere’s employee headcount to more than 1,000 across both continents, according to the companies. Alongside the planned dual headquarters in Berlin and Toronto, the company plans to keep Aleph Alpha’s Heidelberg office as a research center. The companies said the combined firm will remain rooted in both countries, with headquarters, research and development centers, and leadership roles in Canada and Germany.

Leadership Appointments Effective at Close

Cohere said it will expand its leadership team with two senior appointments that take effect upon deal close. Ilhan Scheer, currently Co-CEO of Aleph Alpha, will become Chief Operating Officer of Cohere, leading the company’s global operating model and organizational scaling. Scheer previously founded fable+, a data analytics and transformation company acquired by Accenture, where he went on to serve as Managing Director overseeing a global portfolio of enterprise transformation products. He is co-author of the book Decision Intelligence, published by Wiley.

“Over the past twelve months, we have sharpened our focus on specialized language models for governments and regulated industries,” Scheer said. “Cohere is a strong strategic fit for this work, bringing global reach and deployment capabilities that complement our research expertise.”

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. According to the announcement, his scientific work spans tokenization, language model training, explainability, and image generation. Both appointments are contingent on completion of the transaction, and the companies said further integration and product details will follow.

Sovereignty Safeguards and the STACKIT Partnership

The companies said Cohere will become the first foundational model developer anchored on both sides of the Atlantic to 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, Cohere’s co-founder and CEO. “That belief is exactly why we’re joining forces with Aleph Alpha to enhance the talent, infrastructure and institutional trust behind our mission.”

The combined company will also advance its partnership with the companies of Schwarz Group to deliver sovereign AI on STACKIT, Schwarz Digits’ sovereign cloud service, which the announcement describes as a cornerstone of Europe’s digital sovereignty strategy. Christian Müller, CEO of Schwarz Digits, said the alliance aims to establish STACKIT as the technical backbone for sovereign AI solutions, describing digital sovereignty as a matter of strategically joining forces rather than going it alone.

April Announcement and Series E Commitment

The signing follows Cohere’s April 24, 2026 announcement of the planned combination, which described a transatlantic alliance pairing Cohere’s global AI scale with Aleph Alpha’s research capabilities and deep institutional relationships. At the time, the companies said the combined entity would aim to deliver secure, customized AI for highly regulated sectors, naming the public sector, finance, defense, energy, manufacturing, telecommunications, and healthcare.

In that April announcement, the companies of Schwarz Group stated their intent to back Cohere’s upcoming Series E funding round as lead investor with a $600 million (€500 million) structured financing commitment. Rolf Schumann and Christian Müller, Co-CEOs of Schwarz Digits, said in a joint statement at the time that the investment positions the Schwarz Group companies as lead investors for digital sovereignty and infrastructure, with the STACKIT cloud service established as the technical backbone of the transatlantic initiative.