Cohere and Aleph Alpha signed a definitive merger agreement this week. The combined company keeps the Cohere name, and Aleph Alpha’s Ilhan Scheer becomes COO of the merged entity. Two mid-tier foundation model companies deciding that scale beats independence.
At the same time, OpenAI is reportedly turning down investor interest at a 1.2 trillion dollar valuation because it believes it’s worth more, north of 1.5 trillion, based on how its enterprise clients are actually using the product. May Mobility, the self-driving tech company, is going public through a SPAC merger at a 1.4 billion pro forma valuation, looking to raise up to 337 million in the process.
Three different moves, three different signals about where companies think they sit. Cohere and Aleph Alpha are betting that combined they can compete for a market neither could win alone. OpenAI is betting its growth curve justifies holding out for a number few investors will want to write a check for. May Mobility is betting a SPAC gets it public faster than waiting for a traditional IPO window that may or may not open. Different bets, same underlying anxiety: get positioned now, before the next repricing of what AI companies are actually worth.
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