Europe spent years trying to build its own answer to OpenAI. In April 2026, it largely gave up on doing it alone. Cohere, a Toronto-based artificial intelligence company, agreed to acquire Germany's Aleph Alpha in a deal valuing the combined business at roughly $20 billion, alongside a $600 million funding round led by German retail giant Schwarz Group. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close later in 2026. Germany's Digital Minister and Canada's Minister of AI and Digital Innovation both attended the announcement in Berlin—an unusual show of joint state backing for a private-sector deal.
The merged company will keep its global headquarters in Toronto and a European headquarters in Berlin, with Cohere shareholders receiving roughly 90 percent of the combined entity and Aleph Alpha shareholders receiving about 10 percent. The deal's leadership picture differs from early reports: Aleph Alpha's founder Jonas Andrulis left the company in late 2025 after six years and has since launched a separate startup. The Berlin operation will be led by Aleph Alpha's current co-chief executives Ilhan Scheer and Reto Sporri, who took over in early 2026.
