MEMO FROM THE FUTURE: COHERE

CEO Edition

BOARD STRATEGY SESSION June 2030

TO: Cohere Board of Directors

FROM: Aidan Gomez, CEO

DATE: June 2030

SUBJECT: Cohere's European AI Champion Strategy and Multilingual Model Leadership

OPENING

Cohere is Canada's AI champion company. But the global AI competition is increasingly about geopolitics and regional dominance. The U.S. has OpenAI, Google, Anthropic. China has ByteDance, Alibaba, Baidu. Europe wants its own champion.

This memo proposes a strategic pivot: Position Cohere as Europe's leading AI company, invest heavily in European R&D and partnerships, and build the best multilingual language models for global enterprise.

THE REALITY

Current state: - Founded in Toronto, Canada (2019) - Raised $500M+ in funding - Valued at $2.2 billion - Core product: Language models and text generation API - Customer base: 1,000+ enterprise customers - Employees: 250+

Strategic opportunity: - Europe wants AI independence from U.S. tech companies - European governments are investing in AI initiatives - Multilingual support is underserved by U.S. models - Enterprise demand for privacy-respecting, non-U.S. AI models is growing

The path: Position Cohere as the European AI champion, build the best multilingual models, and win enterprise customers globally who want non-U.S. AI options.

WHERE WE ARE

Today: - Focused on North American enterprise sales - English-language models are competitive with OpenAI and Anthropic - Multilingual capabilities are weaker - R&D concentrated in Toronto - 50% of revenue from North America, 50% international

The inflection: European governments are investing in AI infrastructure. They're actively seeking non-U.S. alternatives. If Cohere positions itself as the European option, we can access significant government funding and enterprise demand.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Opportunity 1: European Headquarters and R&D Expansion

The play: Establish European headquarters (likely Germany or Switzerland), build major R&D centers, and position Cohere as the European AI company.

How: - Establish European HQ in Switzerland or Germany (strategic neutrality + regulatory leadership) - Build R&D centers in 3-4 European countries (Germany, France, UK, Netherlands) - Hire European talent (Europe has excellent ML talent but few large AI companies to employ them) - Pursue European government partnerships and funding (EU AI Act compliance, government AI initiatives)

Estimated impact: - Attract European government funding (hundreds of millions) - Access to top European talent - Better regulatory positioning (comply with EU AI Act from day one) - Enterprise customers see Cohere as "European champion," not "Canadian subsidiary of U.S. investors"

Timeline: 12-18 months to establish major presence

Profitability: Government funding helps offset R&D costs

Opportunity 2: Multilingual Model Leadership

The play: Build the world's best multilingual language models, supporting 50+ languages natively with quality comparable to English models.

How: - Invest heavily in multilingual training data and model development - Focus on enterprise use cases (customer support, content creation, translation, search) where multilingual matters - Partner with enterprises and governments globally to improve models for local languages - Create multilingual enterprise APIs and fine-tuning capabilities

Estimated impact: - Become the preferred choice for enterprises operating in multiple countries - Access to markets underserved by English-focused models (Asia, Europe, Latin America) - Premium pricing for multilingual capabilities (customers pay for language breadth) - Revenue diversification beyond English-language markets

Timeline: 18-24 months to launch significantly improved multilingual models

Opportunity 3: Enterprise Privacy and Compliance Model

The play: Market Cohere as the "privacy-first, compliance-first" AI option for regulated industries and risk-averse enterprises.

How: - Position models as compliant with EU AI Act from day one - Offer on-premise deployment options (not just cloud API) - Build data protection and privacy-respecting model versions - Target regulated industries: finance, healthcare, government - Emphasize "European values" and data sovereignty

Estimated impact: - Regulated industries (finance, healthcare, government) prefer Cohere due to compliance - Higher margins on compliance-focused offerings - Enterprise TAM expansion into risk-averse segments - Premium pricing for compliance and privacy features

Timeline: 12-18 months to build and market

MY RECOMMENDATION

Pursue all three opportunities simultaneously. This positions Cohere as the European, multilingual, privacy-first alternative to U.S. AI companies.

EXECUTION PLAN

Phase 1: European Expansion (2030-2032)

• Establish European HQ
• Build R&D centers in 3-4 countries
• Hire 200-300 European talent
• Secure European government partnerships and funding

Phase 2: Multilingual and Privacy (2031-2033)

• Launch significantly improved multilingual models
• Build privacy-compliant model versions
• Expand customer base to regulated industries

Phase 3: Global Expansion (2033-2035)

• Scale European revenue to 40-50% of total
• Establish Cohere as global choice for multilingual and privacy-conscious enterprises
• Revenue reaches $1-1.5 billion

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

By 2035:

• Revenue: $1.0-1.5 billion (vs. $100M+ today)
• Gross margins: 70-75%
• Operating margins: 30-35% (after scaling R&D)
• Geographic revenue: Europe 40-50%, North America 35-40%, Asia/Other 10-15%
• Government funding: $200-500M raised from European sources

Valuation target: $10-15 billion by 2035 (vs. $2.2B today).

Aidan

Confidential — Board of Directors Only