Canadian artificial intelligence startup Cohere is opening an office in New York City as the company looks to capture the talents and customers there, the company told Reuters.

The startup, which develops foundation models that compete with OpenAI and focuses on serving enterprise customers, will house about 30 employees in its office in the Meatpacking District, home to major tech companies such as Google.

Backed by Nvidia, Oracle and Salesforce, the company is in talks to raise over $500 million in a new funding round, sources told Reuters earlier.

Cohere said the new office will help it tap into the talent pool in New York, and support its work with enterprise AI adoptions with customers like McKinsey.

"New York is a critical talent market for us, and being firmly on the ground helps us connect directly with our many customers and partners in the city,” said Aidan Gomez, Cohere’s co-founder and CEO.

  - Reuters