The Canadian artificial intelligence developer Cohere signed a preliminary agreement of intent to buy the American cybersecurity start-up AISLE. It was founded by Ondřej Vlček, the former head of the Czech company Avast. The two firms announced this in a press release on 15 October 2026. They did not disclose the financial terms.[1][2]
Aims of the acquisition
According to Cohere, the acquisition is meant to strengthen the group's security capabilities and widen its presence in Europe, where AISLE has a development centre in Prague. Cohere intends to offer cybersecurity services to corporate customers and public institutions. In April 2026 Cohere agreed on a merger with the German company Aleph Alpha, whose value is estimated at 20 billion dollars.[1][2]
After completion
After the acquisition is completed, Vlček is to lead Cohere's new cybersecurity division. According to Cohere's statement to Reuters, all roughly 50 employees of the start-up will move to that company.[1][2]
AISLE
The company was founded in 2025 and develops tools using artificial intelligence that look for previously unknown flaws in software and help fix them before attackers can exploit them. According to AISLE, its technology uncovered over 500 flaws in widely used software in its first year, including 12 vulnerabilities in the OpenSSL program. All the reported flaws were fixed.[1][2]
Chronology
- — The Canadian company Cohere announced a preliminary agreement to buy the cybersecurity start-up AISLE, founded by former Avast chief Ondřej Vlček and with a development centre in Prague; the financial terms were not disclosed. Seznam Zprávy Hospodářské noviny