As global giants chase consumer-facing artificial intelligence (AI), Canada has adopted a different approach.
The northern nation has excelled in developing B2B AI solutions for enterprises, governments and research institutions. This discreet strategy aims to cultivate a trusted AI environment, fostering innovation and economic growth within Canada, while building a resilient ecosystem safeguarded from external influences.
While the spotlight often falls elsewhere, Canada’s AI strategy could present a unique opportunity for investors seeking long-term growth in the evolving AI landscape.
Understanding the two faces of AI
While public attention often gravitates toward chatbots and image generators, many of the most impactful AI innovations are systems that optimize supply chains, detect fraud in financial transactions or accelerate drug discovery.
Enterprise AI, as these systems are often referred to, offers solutions to complex challenges that are unique to large corporations, financial institutions and government entities.
A significant portion of Canada’s AI buildout has been focused on institutional or B2B use cases, even if business adoption has been slower compared to the US. The country’s AI approach involves an organized strategy largely guided by the government, conducive to creating AI products and services designed specifically for large organizations.
Canada’s blueprint for AI adoption within federal departments is laid out in a report released earlier this year, which lists building a central AI capacity as the first of four key priority areas.
A related initiative, the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, outlines how Canada will ensure it has the physical computing capacity to compete globally and maintain data sovereignty.
It includes a C$2 billion investment to build and provide access to domestic AI computing power and infrastructure. This initiative is a key focus for Evan Solomon, Canada’s minister of AI and digital innovation.
Cohere, a privately owned leading Canadian AI company that specializes in enterprise-focused large language models, exemplifies the country’s strength in this space.
Cohere’s B2B AI strategy takes off
Founded in 2019, Cohere has become a prime example of a successful B2B strategy. The company develops highly specialized, institutional AI solutions for industries like finance, healthcare and logistics.
Its focus on privacy and security enables it to serve large markets needing specialized and secure solutions, providing enterprise-grade large language models and tools for custom AI applications.
Underscoring its growing success, Cohere secured US$500 million in an August funding round led by Canadian funds Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, bringing its valuation to US$6.8 billion. The company has formed working relationships with several tech industry giants, including Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and SAP (NYSE:SAP), and has onboarded former executives from Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META). Global consulting firm McKinsey also works with Cohere to help its clients integrate generative AI into their operations.
A key part of Cohere’s work is Cohere North, an enterprise-ready AI platform that Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) began offering to its enterprise customers this past May as part of a complete AI package.
In the financial sector, Cohere and the Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY,NYSE:RY) have partnered to introduce North for Banking, a secure generative AI platform designed to enhance productivity and data security specifically within the financial services sector. A January press release emphasizes the goal of speeding generative AI solutions.
This summer, Cohere teamed up with Bell Canada (TSX:BCE,NYSE:BCE) to supply specialized AI models to government and enterprise customers, with Bell providing the infrastructure layer with its AI Fabric network of data centers.
BUZZ High Performance Computing, a subsidiary of Canadian digital infrastructure company Hive Digital Technologies (TSXV:HIVE,NASDAQ:HIVE), contributes to the Cohere-Bell endeavor by providing NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPU clusters as the foundational hardware layer for large-scale AI workloads.
Cohere has also received backing from the Canadian government, with Ottawa signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the company to integrate AI into public services on August 19.
The non-binding agreement acknowledges the company’s public sector ambitions and the government’s interest in leveraging AI for productivity and domestic sourcing.
According to Cohere co-founder and CEO Aidan Gomez, this MOU represents “the beginning, hopefully, of our technology being rolled out quite broadly within the Canadian government.”
Cohere struck a similar agreement with the UK government in June.
Government support for Canadian AI ventures
Canada’s approach to AI is built on stable, institutional-grade solutions and is championed by the administration of Prime Minister Mark Carney, offering a nuanced and attractive proposition for discerning investors.
Focusing on the B2B market provides a foundation of stability, as it offers stable, predictable revenue through multimillion-dollar, long-term contracts and full-stack solutions that ensure customer loyalty and economic resilience.
Many investments also have government support, providing a somewhat “de-risked” play for investors.
The Carney administration has made public commitments to incorporate AI into the public sector, promised to provide tax incentives for companies and said it will slash regulatory red tape on AI infrastructure projects like data centers.
The Department of Finance has already introduced draft reforms to the Scientific Research and Experimental Development program that would extend refundable tax credits to Canadian public companies.
Finally, the strategy is buoyed by a robust domestic investment landscape.
Canadian investors have historically provided strong financial backing for homegrown AI startups. Firms like BDC Capital, Real Ventures and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund have taken the lead in terms of deal count, demonstrating a strong, homegrown commitment to fostering the Canadian AI ecosystem from its earliest stages.
Canada’s quiet AI leadership
Canada’s stealthy AI strategy is cementing its role as a quiet yet formidable force in the global AI landscape.
Companies like Cohere, bolstered by initiatives such as AXL’s initiative to launch 50 Canadian AI companies in the next five years, underscore a commitment to developing and retaining Canadian AI talent and intellectual property.
For discerning investors, this focus on stable, institutional solutions offers a significant and differentiated long-term growth story beyond the consumer AI buzz.
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.