Mistral targets $10B valuation in new $1B fundraising push
French AI startup Mistral is angling for a $10 billion valuation in its latest funding round, according to the Financial Times. The company wants to raise $1 billion to speed up commercial rollout of its chatbot, Le Chat, and boost development of its large language models.
Mistral was valued at €6 billion earlier this year. The firm is juggling talks with multiple investors, including venture capital funds and Abu Dhabi’s MGX AI fund. Current sales have pushed projected revenues over $100 million annually. 
So far in 2024, Mistral raised $640 million in a Series B round and combined with $112 million seed money from 2023 totals over $750 million raised.
Despite trailing US and Chinese giants like OpenAI and DeepMind, Mistral is pushing cost-efficient, open-source models as an alternative to proprietary AI from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
Backers include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nvidia, Samsung Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, BPI France, and French entrepreneur Xavier Niel.
Just two months ago, Mistral and Nvidia struck a deal to launch a Europe-based AI platform powered by Nvidia chips starting in 2026. French President Emmanuel Macron called the pact “historic” during the VivaTech conference in Paris.
Macron also revealed a €109 billion investment boost into France’s AI sector from the private sector this year.
Mistral’s client list already counts the French defense ministry, BNP Paribas, Orange, and shipping giant CMA-CGM, which signed a €100 million contract for five years.
Sources: Financial Times, TechCrunch Series B, TechCrunch Seed, Le Monde on Nvidia deal, BPI France CMA-CGM deal
