Paris-based Mistral AI To Raises $1 billion At $10 billion valuation

Founded by former engineers from Meta and Google DeepMind, the company specializes in open-weight, modular AI models and has quickly drawn interest from major global investors such as Nvidia, Andreessen Horowitz, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX fund.

Mistral was founded by École Polytechnique alumni Arthur Mensch, Guillaume Lample, and Timothée Lacroix, with a vision to make advanced AI accessible, transparent, and aligned with European data protection standards. Mensch contributed to DeepMind’s Chinchilla model, while Lample helped develop Meta’s LLaMA models.

The startup gained rapid momentum, raising €105 million in Seed funding and €600 million in Series B reaching a €5.8 billion valuation by June 2024. Its upcoming $1 billion raise aims to scale infrastructure and accelerate global expansion.

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Mistral’s flagship models Mistral Large and the Mixtral series have established the startup as a strong challenger in the generative AI space, offering a European alternative to U.S. players like OpenAI.

Its focus on open-source development, flexible licensing, and GDPR compliance has attracted major enterprise clients such as BNP Paribas, AXA, CMA CGM, and Stellantis.

On the consumer side, its proprietary chatbot, Le Chat, surpassed one million mobile downloads within two weeks of launch—boosted by Free Mobile bundling the pro version with its subscriptions.

Mistral has also secured key partnerships. Microsoft invested €15 million through a convertible bond and now hosts Mistral’s models on Azure. Meanwhile, CMA CGM committed €100 million over five years to embed Mistral’s AI across logistics and customer service operations.

Mistral plans to invest upcoming capital in building a data center hub near Paris, including an €8.5 billion nuclear-powered facility in Essonne—strengthening Europe’s push for tech sovereignty.

Its open-weight models are particularly attractive to sectors like healthcare, defense, and finance, where transparency, security and regulatory compliance are critical.

By mid-2025, Mistral expects to reach nearly 400 employees. The company emphasizes diversity, with women in 50% of senior roles and a team representing over 15 nationalities.

Mistral was also highlighted in EU-Startups’ feature “Europe’s quiet AI advantage,” recognizing its role in driving vertical AI specialization and enterprise adoption across the continent.