While generative AI has been a long time in the making, its powers weren’t readily apparent to the general public until OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT just over a year ago.
While European investors' contributions to the sector have lagged a bit behind those of their US and Asian counterparts, the game of catchup is clearly on.
$2 billion valuation
Having made a splash on the scene with a €105 million Seed round investment, just a month after its founding, the French generative AI startup is reportedly close to closing a fresh €450 million investment deal that would provide the company with a valuation of $2 billion.
Sources close to Bloomberg report that Andreessen Horowitz is leading the round with a €200 million investment, with Nvidia and Salesforce committing another €120 million in convertible debt.
As part of the deal, Mistral’s three co-founders Arthur Mensch, Timothée Lacroix and Guillaume Lample will part with more than €1 million a piece in equity. Also cited in the offload of shares is Mistral AI’s chief advisor, former French minister Cedric O.
€900 million
While still yet to be confirmed, in combination with Aleph Alpha’s recent $500 million raising of funds, the Mistral AI deal would see over €900 million pour into European AI-focused startups in just one month.
Game on.
Lead image: The Mistral AI team in Paris via Mistral AI. Photo: Uncredited.
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