PARIS (Reuters) -Canadian AI startup Cohere is expanding operations in Europe, intensifying competition with homegrown players like France's Mistral to supply AI services in the region.
Cohere, which was valued at $6.8 billion in its latest funding round, opened an office in Paris on Monday and is keen to take a bigger share of Europe's growing demand, said CEO Aidan Gomez.
The firm will join others lured to the French capital by French President Emmanuel Macron's push to create a European AI hub in the country, part of a bid to reinforce Europe's digital sovereignty.
"Previously, when we've looked at our global revenue, Europe had been slower to take off, but we're starting to see renewed momentum, in particular this year," Gomez told reporters.
Smaller AI firms are striving to rival U.S.-based giants such as OpenAI, Microsoft and Meta, which dominate the industry. Both Cohere and European AI champion Mistral are targeting business clients with an emphasis on data security and sovereignty.
Mistral, valued this month at $11.7 billion, declined to comment on Cohere's offering in Europe.
Founded in 2019, Cohere already counts major global companies such as South Korea's LG, Japan's Fujitsu and Oracle in the U.S. as partners, said Gomez.
He said recent political unrest in France was not a concern, and that he was "super confident" in the country's tech ecosystem.
(Reporting by Florence Loeve; Editing by Jan Harvey)
