Mistral raises €3B as sovereign AI becomes big business

French AI lab Mistral AI on Tuesday said it has raised €3 billion (about $3.58 billion) at a post-money valuation of more than €21 billion (about $24.39 billion), confirming earlier rumors.

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

Mistral said it will use the funding to scale its compute capacity, build infrastructure, accelerate commercial growth and expand its international footprint. The money could also help clarify its positioning — the company says its goal is not to build a European ChatGPT, and though its models haven’t gone mainstream, it still envisions itself as an AI lab.

The funding will help Mistral pursue a subtle shift in strategy that aims to further address concerns in Europe and elsewhere about being too dependent on the United States for tech, especially with the intensifying politics around AI regulation and products Stateside.

In addition to a push to build 1 GW of compute capacity in Europe by 2030, Mistral in August unveiled tools that let its customers choose which regions their AI queries are processed in. It’s also started hosting third-party, open-weight AI models (Chinese ones, too) to bolster its positioning as an AI services provider that wants its customers to control what AI models they use and how they use them.

The company on Tuesday pegged its frontier research as “the foundation underpinning its infrastructure, products and sovereignty,” which may be an indirect response to naysayers who interpreted the company’s decision to host Chinese models as a sign that it was turning into an inference provider.

Mistral’s mention of its global ambitions also likely is an effort to dispel a common misunderstanding that the company’s remit is contained within France. The lab now operates in 20 countries, and its go-to-market strategy is more focused on helping governments and corporations leverage AI and preserve a sense of control, unlike other frontier labs like OpenAI and Anthropic which sell their AI models more broadly.

This strategy has built high hopes for Mistral as a French tech champion, as Samsung’s entry into Mistral’s cap table has the blessing of France’s authorities. In a post on X, French president Macron said the round reflected France and South Korea’s goal of “building a third way in AI.”

The fact that Mistral’s funding round warranted such a statement is a reminder of the geopolitical undertones that have surrounded the AI company, mostly to its benefit. Amid growing demand for sovereign AI infrastructure, not being an American company has reportedly boosted Mistral’s revenue.

On the other hand, the capital required to compete with the leading U.S. labs isn’t available in France alone. But with Dutch chipmaker ASML as a major partner and investor, and now Samsung, Mistral seems to have found a third way — similar to Germany’s Aleph Alpha’s merger with Canada’s Cohere.

Mistral still works with U.S. players, particularly Microsoft, through a strategic partnership the two companies significantly expanded in July. The new Series D was also backed by American investors: existing backers such as a16z, Nvidia and Salesforce Ventures invested, as did new backers Advent and BlackRock. 

Still, with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg also joining as a new backer and many other existing European backers doubling down, the AI lab’s cap table remains resolutely international. And that might be enough for the customers Mistral is targeting.

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