AI startup Cohere valued at $6.8 billion in latest fundraise, appoints new executives

Eli Lilly has partnered with Superluminal Medicines in a $1.3 billion deal to develop small-molecule therapeutics for obesity and cardiometabolic conditions. The collaboration leverages Superluminal's AI-powered platform targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Lilly gains exclusive development and commercialization rights, while Superluminal receives upfront payments, equity investment, milestone payments, and royalties. This strategic move strengthens Lilly's position in the obesity drug market, projected to reach $150 billion annually within a decade, complementing its successful GLP-1 therapies Mounjaro and Zepbound. Superluminal, based at Lilly's Gateway Labs in Boston, is developing five molecules for endocrine and cardiometabolic disorders, with a melanocortin 4 receptor agonist expected to enter clinical trials next year.

Cohere, an AI startup specializing in enterprise-specific models, has reached a $6.8 billion valuation after raising $500 million from investors including Radical Ventures, Inovia Capital, NVIDIA, and Salesforce Ventures. The company plans to accelerate development of agentic AI products for businesses and governments. Cohere recently appointed Meta's Joelle Pineau as Chief AI Officer and Shield AI's Francois Chadwick as CFO, bolstering its leadership team amid significant industry investment in business-oriented AI solutions.

Oracle and Google Cloud announced a partnership integrating Google's Gemini AI models into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Oracle customers can now access advanced generative AI capabilities for text, image, video, and audio directly within Oracle business applications. The collaboration includes Gemini 2.5 initially, with plans to expand to Google's full portfolio of AI models through Vertex AI. Users can apply existing Oracle credits toward these AI tools, benefiting from unified billing. The integration enhances AI capabilities across Oracle's cloud applications for finance, HR, supply chain, and other business functions. This partnership builds on previous multicloud initiatives while giving enterprises access to industry-specific models like MedLM for healthcare applications.

Foxconn reported an 11% increase in second-quarter profit, exceeding market expectations due to strong AI server demand. The company's growth was driven by orders for ChatGPT-related infrastructure and data center hardware. Foxconn has strategically diversified its product offerings and expanded globally to reduce dependence on consumer electronics. Management expressed optimism about continued high demand for AI servers throughout the year, as the company focuses on advanced data centers, cloud computing, and next-generation networking technologies.