Lütke moved to Toronto, and Finkelstein returned to Montreal. “The great decision I think I ever made was staying here,” he said.
Cohere, one of the world’s top AI companies, received up to $240m from the federal government in 2023 under Ottawa’s sovereign artificial intelligence compute program.
According to The Globe and Mail, the company’s data centre is being built by CoreWeave Inc., a US-based firm and indirect recipient of the funds.
Gomez stressed that Canada’s brand has helped Cohere on the global stage, especially amid geopolitical shifts. But he added that Canadian investors must “step up” if domestic innovation is to thrive.
He pointed to the broader threat of brain drain, saying the issue is not ambition, but retention.