Cohere’s Berlin Tech Acquisitions Expose European AI Sovereignty Gaps
Canadian AI powerhouse Cohere has rapidly expanded in Europe, acquiring two leading German startups. First came Heidelberg/Berlin-based Aleph Alpha, once Germany's OpenAI rival. Now Berlin-based Reliant AI, a biopharma specialist serving GlaxoSmithKline, has followed. Financial details remain undisclosed.
AI expert Barbara Lampl calls these deals a serious warning for European AI sovereignty. While they give the startups resources and global reach, she tells ntv.de that Europe fails to build its own champions. Aleph Alpha has abandoned large language model development, shifting to specialized enterprise AI like Cohere.
Reliant AI, founded in 2023, raised $11 million last year. Its platform automates pharmaceutical research analysis, with AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio as an investor. Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez states healthcare offers AI’s greatest opportunities, requiring secure, sovereign systems where organizations maintain full control over sensitive data, cloud infrastructure, and compliance.
The acquisitions highlight a harsh reality: buying teams is faster than organic growth. "Acquisitions buy time—and in AI, time is the most valuable resource," Lampl says. Cohere will use Schwarz Group’s data centers for its AI services, with the German retailer investing $600 million in its next funding round. Cohere CFO Francois Chadwick told Reuters the company will use European infrastructure and meet sovereignty requirements for government and regulated industry clients.
Cohere’s expansion exposes Europe’s talent challenge. Lampl notes German salaries trail US tech firms significantly. Unable to win North America’s talent wars, Cohere buys entire Berlin tech teams at bargain prices. "This is no compliment to German innovation policy," she states.
Critics argue Germany excels at research but struggles with scaling. Martin Geißler of Argon & Co says if top startups can’t grow in Europe, it reveals ecosystem weaknesses. Most talent leaves Germany after their PhD before building locally.
The pattern raises a critical question: why are there so few European buyers for Europe’s AI innovation?
