Cohere, an AI foundation model company that competes with Microsoft-backed OpenAI, said it had raised $270 million in a funding round backed by Nvidia, Oracle and Salesforce Ventures, among others.

Foundation models are AI systems that are trained on large sets of data, with the ability to learn from new data to perform a variety of tasks. Generative AI aims to make human-like creations through computer code that has processed vast amounts of data.

Cohere did not reveal its valuation after the latest funding round. "As the early excitement about generative AI shifts toward ways to accelerate businesses, companies are looking to Cohere to position them for success in a new era of technology," CEO Aidan Gomez said.

AI startups are a bright spot in an otherwise subdued market for venture capital funding, particularly for technology companies, amid rising interest rates and increased investor focus on profitability. Cohere's series C round was led by Inovia Capital and joined by other investors such as DTCP, Mirae Asset, Schroders Capital, SentinelOne and Thomvest Ventures.

Since the launch of ChatGPT in November, the technology that can generate prose, imagery or computer code on command has attracted investor attention. Last month, Anthropic, another AI startup which has received backing from Alphabet Inc's Google, also raised $450 million in a new round.