ecosystem / people / ivan-zhang
Ivan Zhang on the TechTO stage

Ivan Zhang

Co-founder, Cohere

Artificial intelligenceTorontoOn TechTO stages since 2021

Ivan Zhang co-founded Cohere, the Toronto company that builds large language models for businesses, with Aidan Gomez and Nick Frost in 2019. At TechTO in 2021, days before Cohere opened its platform, he spoke on why investors back founding teams, having just raised a US$40M Series A led by Index Ventures and Section 32.

On the TechTO stage ×1

TECHTO9:32

Importance Of Having a Founding Team As A Start-Up Company | Ivan Zhang

TechTO · October 2021
Watch on YouTube ↗

First seen on the TechTO stage in 2021. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Ivan ↗

In their words

we raise 40 million uh us dollars from index ventures and section 32 it's our series a

TechTO, Oct 2021 · watch at 0:21 ↗

betting on the founders to actually execute through those challenges

TechTO, Oct 2021 · watch at 3:51 ↗

but at the series a level it's more about getting that rocket fuel to really go to market

TechTO, Oct 2021 · watch at 4:43 ↗
A few quotes can’t cover everything Ivan said on the TechTO stage. 1,600+ talks are searchable.Ask about Ivan ↗

Around the web ×1

Podcast
Ep 101 — Ivan Zhang, Co-Founder of CohereAll Quiet on the Second Front
2025

Quick answers

What did Ivan Zhang co-found?

Cohere, a Toronto company that builds large language models for businesses, with Aidan Gomez and Nick Frost in 2019.

What did Cohere have when he spoke at TechTO?

A US$40M Series A, led by Index Ventures and Section 32, closed just before the October 2021 talk, with early backing from Radical Ventures.

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Maintained by TechTO · facts sourced and dated · last reviewed Jul 23, 2026