Mistral raises €3 billion for the development of European AI

The French AI company Mistral has raised €3 billion in a new funding round. This brings the company’s valuation to over €21 billion. It is the largest funding round ever for a European technology company.

The funding round is led by Samsung Electronics. The Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by investment firm EQT, and existing investor PSG Equity are also participating.

Powerful models

Mistral plans to use the new funding primarily to further develop its AI models and infrastructure. The company aims to make more computing power available to train more powerful models while continuing to expand internationally. Mistral is now active in twenty countries and works with more than 125 major companies, including Airbus, ASML, and HSBC.

Control over data

According to Mistral, the way companies view AI is changing. Whereas in the early years the focus was primarily on who could build the most powerful AI model, the question is now increasingly: how can companies and governments deploy AI without relinquishing control over their data, systems, and technology?

Open-weight AI models

Mistral therefore focuses on so-called open-weight AI models. Organizations can customize and use these models without becoming fully dependent on a single vendor. The company also develops the infrastructure and computing power needed to run the models.

According to Mistral, this approach gives organizations more control over their AI. Data can remain within the organization, models can be customized, and the necessary computing power can be managed privately. Organizations should also be better able to monitor and verify exactly what their AI systems are doing.