French start-up Mistral AI a leading force in European artificial intelligence

(Patria) - French artificial intelligence start-up Mistral AI announced on Sunday that it has raised 385 million euros, making it one of the two European leaders in this field, AFP reported.

Founded in May by industry heavyweights, Mistral had already raised 105 million euros in June. Among European artificial intelligence companies, only Germany's Aleph Alpha has raised as much, raising nearly 500 million euros in early November.

This second funding round, led by the Californian fund Andreessen Horowitz, values Mistral at two billion euros, according to financial sources, making it a French technology leader. Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch said the newly announced discovery marked "another big step in our acceleration".

The emergence of European AI players comes at a time when the European Union is seeking to secure future regulation of the sector without limiting innovation. EU member states and lawmakers reached an agreement on Friday on how to draft rules governing artificial intelligence models.

France and Germany initially feared that excessive regulation would stifle their emerging champions. Among Mistral's backers are several American tech giants, including software publisher Salesforce and also, according to industry sources, the Nvidia group, a global leader in supercomputer chips.

The mobilization of Silicon Valley's biggest players reflects the enthusiasm generated by Mistral in its eight months of existence. American media have already cited it as a potential rival to OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

Like many of its competitors, Mistral, which has 22 employees, offers companies open-source language models that feed on public data.

Its three French co-founders are CEO Mensch (31), along with Guillaume Lample and Timothee Lacroix, all with experience in major American tech companies, including Meta.