French AI company Mistral hits $24 billion valuation in funding round

France's Mistral artificial intelligence firm has secured €3 billion in funding, bringing its valuation to around €21 billion or $24 billion, marking the largest equity funding round for a privately-owned European technology firm. The investment round was led by existing investor PSG Equity, along with Samsung Electronics from South Korea and the EU-backed Scaleup Europe Fund, both of which made initial investments.

This funding round positions Mistral as Europe's second-highest-valued private technology group and the fastest-growing company in Europe, according to CFO Johan Bergqvist. The capital will be used to bolster Mistral's models and invest in frontier research to compete with larger rivals. Despite being dwarfed by U.S. AI giants like Anthropic and OpenAI, Mistral is considered Europe's best hope for developing a leading AI company.

While Mistral is exploring the possibility of an IPO, the timing remains uncertain. The company's open models allow clients to download and customize them on their own servers, and its client base is diversifying geographically, with growth particularly in Asia and North America. Microsoft, which will provide computing infrastructure for Mistral in Europe, did not participate in the funding round.