Cohere and Aleph Alpha announced on September 16, 2026, from Toronto and Heidelberg, that they have signed a definitive business combination agreement, formalizing the combination the two companies first announced in April 2026. The combined company will operate globally as Cohere, be dual-headquartered in Berlin and Toronto, keep Aleph Alpha's Heidelberg office as a research center, and have more than 1,000 employees across both continents.
On closing, Aleph Alpha Co-CEO Ilhan Scheer becomes Cohere's Chief Operating Officer and Aleph Alpha co-founder Samuel Weinbach becomes Chief Research Officer, while Aidan Gomez remains co-founder and CEO. The companies also describe continued work with Germany's Schwarz Group to deliver sovereign AI on STACKIT, the Schwarz Digits sovereign cloud. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close later in 2026.
The deal consolidates two of the best-known non-US model companies around one pitch: AI that governments and regulated enterprises can deploy under their own control. Cohere brings enterprise sales and models; Aleph Alpha brings German public-sector relationships and a European base. "No government or enterprise should have to choose between capable AI and control over their technology," Gomez said.
The companies disclosed no valuation, equity split or investment amount. "The first transatlantic sovereign AI solution" is the companies' characterization.