Cohere moves to buy AI cybersecurity startup Aisle

Canadian AI firm Cohere announced on Thursday it has entered into a letter of intent to acquire Aisle, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup that leverages AI to identify vulnerabilities in software, according to Reuters. The acquisition is part of Cohere's broader strategy to expand its presence in the cybersecurity sector through its merger with Germany's Aleph Alpha, a deal reportedly valued at approximately $20 billion.

This move will also bolster Cohere's European operations, capitalizing on Aisle's engineering hub in Prague. The company's investment in Europe signifies its commitment to enhancing European AI capabilities. The acquisition is aimed at enhancing Cohere's security and threat detection services for both enterprise and public sector clients, with private deployment options available directly to customers.

Ondrej Vlcek, the former CEO of Czech antivirus company Avast and Aisle's founder, will join Cohere to spearhead the new cybersecurity division. Jaya Baloo, Aisle's Chief Operating Officer, will take on the role of Chief Information Security Officer. The 50 full-time employees of Aisle will also become part of Cohere. Aisle's AI managed to uncover over 500 new bugs in widely used software in its inaugural year, including 12 vulnerabilities in OpenSSL, a widely used encryption program for banks, governments, and messaging platforms. These vulnerabilities were subsequently patched following their discovery.