TechFlow news, according to Bloomberg citing sources familiar with the matter, French AI startup Mistral AI is in the final stages of a funding round raising 450 million euros (487 million U.S. dollars), valuing the company at nearly 2 billion U.S. dollars. Investors including a16z are set to contribute more than 325 million euros in equity, with a16z currently negotiating a 200-million-euro investment. Meanwhile, Nvidia and Salesforce have agreed to provide an additional 120 million euros in convertible debt.
Documents outlining the deal terms show that Mistral AI's three co-founders have each agreed to sell over one million euros worth of shares. Three other insiders at Mistral will also sell stakes, including Cedric O, the former French minister who serves as the company's chief advisor. The documents indicate that General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bpifrance, and several other firms are also participating in this funding round.
Mistral, founded by former scientists from DeepMind and Meta—both under Alphabet Inc.—aims to compete with OpenAI and Google in developing generative artificial intelligence infrastructure. In June, Mistral completed a 105-million-euro seed round, one of the largest ever for a European generative AI company.
