Founded four weeks ago in Paris, the Mistral AI AI project raised €105 million in a seed round, setting a record for this round of funding in Europe, writes the Financial Times.
According to sources, the startup was valued at €240 million following the round. According to journalists, the size of the investment reflects the boom around AI and the desire of European businesses to create a viable alternative to Silicon Valley companies like Microsoft-backed OpenAI or Google’s DeepMind.
“There is a growing awareness that this technology is transformative, and Europe needs to do something about it as a regulator, as well as a client and investor,” said Artur Mensch, CEO of Mistral AI.
The former DeepMind researcher co-founded the firm with Meta alumni Timothée Lacroix and Guillaume Lamplet.
The funding round for the startup was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Investors include ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt, billionaire Xavier Niel and French state-owned investment bank Bpifrance.
Mistral AI doesn’t have a finished product yet. The first employees started working in the company a few days ago.
In early 2024, the startup plans to launch a “big language model” similar to the “generative AI” that underpins the ChatGPT app.
According to Lightspeed partner Antoine Moyrou, the amount and speed of funding for the project reflects the skills of its founders, who are in their early 30s.
“All over the world there are 80-100 people with the same experience as them. For better or for worse, right now the capital requirements for computing and top-tier talent are making [запуск ИИ-стартапа] a fairly capacious game in financial terms, ”he said.
Recall that in June, the Gensyn decentralized computing AI network project based in London raised $43 million during the Series A round.
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