French Startup Mistral AI, Backed by Microsoft, Raises $645M at a $6B Valuation to Compete with OpenAI in the AI Race
By James Dargan · · 1 min read
French tech startup Mistral AI has raised €600 million ($645 million), valuing the company at approximately €5.8 billion ($6.2 billion). The funding round, led by General Catalyst and including existing investors, underscores the ongoing investment surge in the artificial intelligence sector.
Mistral AI, just over a year old, aims to compete with OpenAI by developing large language models (LLMs) for applications like chatbots. Co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch expressed gratitude to investors on social media, stating: “This will accelerate our roadmap as we continue to bring frontier AI into everyone’s hands.”
Mistral’s initial seed round was €105 million, and the company recently received investment from Microsoft, highlighting the growing collaboration between European startups and U.S. tech giants.
