Podcast Summary: The Mark Cuban Podcast

Episode: Cohere’s Big Bet: $100M Raise + AMD Alliance

Date: September 27, 2025
Host: Mark Cuban

Overview

In this episode, Mark Cuban dives into the latest fundraising and strategic moves by Cohere, an enterprise AI company, following its $100M raise that capped a $600M round and pushed its valuation to $7 billion. The discussion unpacks Cohere’s positioning against giants like OpenAI and Anthropic, examines why some observers downplay Cohere’s momentum, explores Cohere’s fresh alliance with AMD, and speculates on their potential paths to broader relevance. Cuban adds first-hand insights from platform usage metrics and reflects on the shifting AI enterprise landscape.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Cohere’s Fundraising and Valuation Surge

• $7B Valuation Milestone:

  • Cohere recently raised an additional $100M following an oversubscribed $500M round announced in August, totaling approximately $600M in new capital.
  • Valuation jumped to between $6.8B and $7B.
  • Cuban notes the remarkable pace:

    “Zero to $7 billion valuation in six years. That is absolutely insane in my opinion. If you said that, like, 10 years ago, people would have been like, there’s no way.”—Mark Cuban [04:50]

• Continuing Investor Appetite:

  • The $100M extension to the round signals ongoing demand.
  • New investors include Business Development Bank of Canada and Nexus Capital Management, emphasizing Cohere’s Canadian roots.

2. Strategic AMD Alliance & Competitive Positioning

• AMD Partnership:

  • Cohere announced a significant partnership with AMD, a major Nvidia competitor and also an investor in the round.
  • This aligns Cohere’s "Command" family of models to run natively on AMD’s Instinct GPUs:

    “They have command, vision, translate, reasoning models, and they can all run on AMD’s Instinct GPU—an Nvidia competitor, basically.”—Mark Cuban [03:00]

• Contrast with OpenAI’s Nvidia Alliance:

  • OpenAI received a $100B investment from Nvidia recently.
  • Cuban points to a growing trend where AI companies align themselves not just by product differentiation but also by hardware and investor alliances:

    “It’s kind of interesting this time...You have these AI models that are not just trying to set themselves apart by who they’re serving, but who they are using to power their models.” —Mark Cuban [03:22]

• No Abandonment of Nvidia:

  • Cohere continues to support Nvidia hardware but stands out by expanding AMD compatibility—a move not all AI companies make.

3. Market Perception and Competitive Landscape

• Perceived Underdog Status:

  • Despite strong performance, Cohere is sometimes viewed as lagging behind headline-dominators like OpenAI (valued at $500B) and Anthropic ($183B, raised $13B in Series F).
  • Comparison can be misleading given the sheer size of funding in the space:

    “When you have these $500 billion valuations and you’re comparing this to $7 billion, people are like, you know, Cohere isn’t growing as fast…these numbers are absolutely staggering.” —Mark Cuban [06:00]

• Focus on Enterprise & AI Sovereignty:

  • Cohere’s strategy is to serve enterprise customers prioritizing “AI sovereignty”—the need for local control of data and models, ensuring sensitive industries (like healthcare and law) can comply with regulations and minimize external dependencies.
  • This specificity creates a solid, if less flashy, business niche, serving customer needs “where AI sovereignty is really urgent.” [07:40]

• Customer and Investor Satisfaction:

  • Cohere’s growth, while not the “rocket ship” of the biggest names, still delivers substantial returns and high customer satisfaction.
  • Cuban relays an investor’s view:

    “You just have to look at the multiple and the growth rate of the company…and for a regular company, they’re getting a great return. Investors are happy, they’re getting a great return and their customers are happy—they’re getting a lot of value out of it.” —Mark Cuban [09:00]

4. Cohere’s Brand Visibility & Product Use Cases

• Limited Popularity Among General Users:

  • Cohere isn’t as prominent or widely used on Cuban’s own platform, AI Box AI, compared to other models.
  • Specialized usage is likely within high-concern industries running models locally, not via cloud services.

• Potential to Broaden Appeal:

  • Cuban encourages Cohere to expand focus from enterprise hardware support to vertical or feature-driven differentiation:

    “If they kind of focus on a specific vertical of user and made their model better—not just like ‘our hardware can support the enterprise,’ but if they made basically kind of like Anthropic, where their model is literally better for writers…Cohere could focus on a couple of these areas and I think they could see a lot of growth.” —Mark Cuban [13:00]

• Competitive Differentiation Example:

  • Anthropic’s Claude Code specialization for developers is cited as a model for vertical-driven AI model design.

5. Reflections on Cohere’s Trajectory & Future Potential

• Notable Heritage:

  • Cohere co-founder Aidan Gomez co-authored the seminal “Attention is All You Need” paper that sparked the large language model (LLM) revolution.

• Enduring Opportunity:

  • Despite not being in the absolute top tier by valuation or fame, Cohere’s strong capital base, differentiated enterprise focus, and hardware strategy make it a company worth watching.

    “Do not count Cohere out. They’re still alive and kicking. I’m happy to hear they’re still raising more money. $600 million is impressive in the last little bit. So, we’ll keep following them and see how this company grows.”—Mark Cuban [14:45]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the mind-boggling pace of AI fundraising:

  “These numbers are absolutely staggering…You see Cohere, and they just raised $600 million, which—wow, that’s a lot of money. But you’re comparing this to, you know, in the same month, Anthropic is pulling in $13 billion.”—Mark Cuban [06:30]

• On Cohere’s focus and underdog status:

  “Cohere could probably do a lot better job of putting a push and being more visible. It’s just not a brand you see out there a lot. But at the end of the day, it’s a powerful company.”—Mark Cuban [11:44]

• On the company’s resilience:

  “Do not count Cohere out. They’re still alive and kicking.”—Mark Cuban [14:45]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Cohere’s $100M raise and new valuation: [02:00–04:50]
• AMD partnership and model compatibility: [03:00–04:20]
• AI industry competitive landscape: [05:30–07:00]
• Investor and customer perspective on Cohere: [08:30–09:30]
• Comparisons with Anthropic and OpenAI: [06:00–10:00]
• AI sovereignty and enterprise market focus: [07:40–08:30]
• Brand and user footprint discussion: [11:44–13:00]
• Recommendations for Cohere’s future strategy: [13:00–14:00]
• Closing thoughts on Cohere’s place in the AI race: [14:00–15:00]

Takeaways

• Cohere’s recent $7B valuation, bolstered by strategic fundraising and an AMD partnership, cements its position as a leading enterprise-focused AI company.
• Its focus on AI sovereignty for regulated industries sets it apart from headline-grabbing competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic, even as these rivals grab larger rounds and valuations.
• Cohere’s low consumer brand visibility does not equate to lack of potential, especially if it can carve out product leadership in specific verticals or features.
• Cuban’s advice: don’t underestimate Cohere’s staying power or growth potential in the ever-evolving enterprise AI market.