Mistral AI, a Paris-based artificial intelligence startup, is reportedly close to closing a €450 million ($2 billion) valuation deal with investors
The round is led by Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, which will invest €200 million, while Nvidia and Salesforce will contribute €120 million in convertible debt
The deal is subject to change, and Mistral AI’s three co-founders, Arthur Mensch, Timothée Lacroix, and Guillaume Lample, will part with more than €1 million each in equity
Additionally, Mistral AI’s chief advisor, former French minister Cedric O., will also sell some shares
Mistral AI focuses on building smaller models that target the developer space and aims to make AI useful in various applications
The company is one of the few European AI companies to have achieved significant valuations, and its valuation is expected to surpass that of its North American counterparts, such as Aleph Alpha, which raised $500 million
The Mistral AI deal would see over €900 million pour into European AI-focused startups in just one month.
Mistral AI is a small creative team with high scientific standards, committed to advancing AI and serving the open community and enterprise customers. The team is focused on developing open-source AI models that are efficient, helpful, and trustworthy. The company was founded by key members of Meta’s and Alphabet’s AI research teams, including Arthur Mensch, Timothée Lacroix, and Guillaume Lample, who have experience working at companies such as Alphabet DeepMind and Meta. They aim to provide foundational technology to automate existing processes and develop innovative products with state-of-the-art large language models.