Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Mistral AI is reportedly nearing the close of a funding round in which it would raise €2 billion (about $2.3 billion) and be valued at €12 billion (about $14 billion).
This would be Mistral AI’s first fundraise since a June 2024 round in which it was valued at €5.8 billion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (Sept. 3), citing unnamed sources.
Mistral AI did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
According to the Bloomberg report, Mistral AI, which is based in France, is developing a chatbot called Le Chat that is tailored to European user as well as other AI services to compete with the dominant ones from the United States and China.
It was reported on Aug. 3 that Mistral AI was targeting a $10 billion valuation in a funding round in which it would raise $1 billion.
In June, it was reported that the company’s revenues had increased several times over since it raised funds in 2024 and were on pace to exceed $100 million a year for the first time.
PYMNTS reported in June 2024, at the time of Mistral AI’s most recent funding round, that the AI startup raised $113 million in seed funding in June 2023, weeks after it was launched, secured an additional $415 million in a funding round in December 2023 in which it was valued at around $2 billion, and then raised $640 million in the round that propelled its valuation to $6 billion.
“We are grateful to our new and existing investors for their continued confidence and support for our global expansion,” Mistral AI said in a post on LinkedIn announcing the June 2024 funding round. “This will accelerate our roadmap as we continue to bring frontier AI into everyone’s hands.”
In June, Mistral AI and chipmaker Nvidia announced a partnership to develop next-generation AI cloud services in France.
The initiative centers around building AI data centers in France using Nvidia chips and will expand Mistral’s businesses model, transitioning the AI startup from being a model developer to being a vertically integrated AI cloud provider, PYMNTS reported at the time.
Source: https://www.pymnts.com/