French tech startup Mistral AI has successfully raised 600 million euros (~$650 million) in a funding round led by venture capital firm General Catalyst.
This significant investment values Mistral AI, an emerging competitor to OpenAI, at approximately 5.8 billion euros ($6.3 billion). The round saw participation from both new and existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, Samsung, Salesforce, and Nvidia, pushing Mistral AI’s total funding to over $760 million.
Expansion and investor confidence
Arthur Mensch, the co-founder and CEO of Mistral AI, took to the X platform to express gratitude to the startup’s investors for their continued confidence and support. Mistral AI was established in May 2023 by former Google and Meta developers. The startup aims to become a European leader in artificial intelligence, focusing on productivity and creativity enhancement. In its early days, Mistral AI raised $113 million in a seed round, marking a solid start for the company.
In February, Mistral AI introduced a new large language model (LLM) named “Mistral Large,” designed to compete with OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Claude 2 from Anthropic. According to the company, the model excels in top-tier reasoning capabilities and is fluent in multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian, with a nuanced understanding of grammar and cultural context. Mistral AI also launched a conversational AI chatbot named “Le Chat,” intended as an alternative to ChatGPT. Building such sophisticated models is costly, with the necessary processors potentially costing up to $100,000 each.
Strategic partnerships and market position
Mistral AI’s large language model is now accessible to Microsoft customers via the Azure cloud computing service. Microsoft, which already hosts AI models from OpenAI on its cloud platform, has also taken an undisclosed stake in Mistral AI, as reported by the Financial Times. This partnership is a strategic move, enhancing Mistral AI’s market position and extending its reach within the AI technology sector.
The substantial funding and strategic partnerships reflect a growing investor appetite for AI technologies. Mistral AI’s ambition to bring AI into everyone’s hands underscores its commitment to expanding its global presence and influence in the AI industry. With its innovative models and strategic alliances, Mistral AI is well-positioned to make significant strides in the competitive landscape of artificial intelligence.