Mistral AI Raises €3 Billion in Record European Round

French AI lab Mistral AI confirmed on Tuesday that it raised €3 billion (about $3.58 billion) at a post-money valuation above €21 billion (roughly $24.39 billion), following earlier rumors.

The Series D round, which Mistral calls the largest equity fundraising ever completed by a European technology company, was led by Samsung Electronics, with the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund and existing investor PSG Equity as co-leads.

Mistral plans to use the money to expand compute capacity, build infrastructure, speed up commercial growth, and widen its international reach. The company says it is not trying to build a European ChatGPT and still sees itself as an AI lab.

The funding supports a strategy aimed at easing European concerns about depending too heavily on the United States for technology, as AI regulation and products become increasingly politicized stateside. Mistral has said it wants to build 1 GW of compute capacity in Europe by 2030 and has rolled out tools letting customers choose where their AI queries are processed. It also hosts third-party open-weight models, including Chinese ones.

Mistral now operates in 20 countries and focuses on helping governments and corporations use AI while keeping control, unlike labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic. French President Macron said on X that the round reflected France and South Korea's goal of building a third way in AI.

The round drew backing from existing investors including a16z, Nvidia, and Salesforce Ventures, plus new backers Advent, BlackRock, and Luxembourg. Mistral continues working with U.S. players, notably Microsoft.

Source: TechCrunch