French startup Mistral AI is in talks to raise around €3 billion ($3.5 billion) at a valuation of roughly €20 billion, according to people familiar with the discussions, providing Europe’s artificial intelligence champion with a cash injection as it competes in a costly computing race against competitors in the US and China.
Discussions with investors are still at an early stage and the terms may change, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The valuation may go higher depending on investor demand, they said. The Paris-based company was valued at €11.7 billion when it raised money in September.
A representative for Mistral declined to comment. A spokesperson for ASML Holding NV, the company’s largest shareholder, declined to comment. ASML invested €1.3 billion and took an 11% stake in Mistral in last year’s round.
Founded in 2023 by researchers from Google DeepMind and Meta Platforms Inc., Mistral has sold itself as Europe’s answer to Silicon Valley’s dominance in AI. The company has focused focused on serving as an infrastructure provider for European governments and companies, building cloud-computing facilities it will manage in France and Sweden.
Recently, Mistral has pitched its AI services as tailor-made for engineering and manufacturing processes, signing deals with large European industrial firms such as Airbus SE and BMW AG.
Still, the French startup’s models and chatbot have gotten far less traction with businesses and consumers than those from OpenAI and Anthropic PBC, as well as Chinese competitors. OpenAI and Anthropic are planning to list this year, following an initial public offering from xAI owner SpaceX, which was valued at about $1.8 trillion ahead of its first day of trading on Friday. OpenAI last raised funds at an $852 billion valuation in March, while Anthropic was worth $965 billion last month.
Mistral has discussed offering European banks and other institutions its alternative to Anthropic’s Mythos, an AI model adept at finding cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Mistral Chief Executive Officer Arthur Mensch has described this capability as a national security risk. “We must have control over this technology,” he said last month.
Mistral’s earlier backers include France’s state bank, Bpifrance, and prominent US venture firms including Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz.
