Canadian AI company Cohere and Germany’s Aleph Alpha have signed a definitive agreement to merge, creating a major transatlantic technology business focused on enterprise artificial intelligence.

The combined company will continue operating under the Cohere name and will have dual headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. Aleph Alpha’s Heidelberg location will continue as a research centre.

The transaction was initially announced earlier this year and is reported to value the combined business at approximately US$20 billion. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close later in 2026.

The merger is designed to expand the companies’ ability to develop enterprise AI systems that can operate within customers’ existing infrastructure and meet regulatory requirements.

The combined company is expected to have more than 1,000 employees across Canada and Europe. Aleph Alpha co-CEO Ilhan Scheer is expected to become Cohere’s chief operating officer, while co-founder Samuel Weinbach will become chief research officer once the transaction closes.

Germany’s Schwarz Group is also investing €500 million and is expected to provide computing resources through its cloud business.

The deal gives one of Canada’s largest private AI companies a significantly broader international footprint, linking Toronto’s technology sector with Germany’s enterprise-AI ecosystem.