French AI vendor Mistral said on Tuesday that it is now worth more than $24 billion after raising $3.5 billion in a Series D round led by Samsung Electronics. The funding comes as the European vendor continues to expand its sovereign AI and open-weight strategies.
In addition to investing in Mistral, South Korean electronics giant Samsung is partnering with the AI vendor to use its models and services to develop specialized semiconductors.
While Mistral AI is only three years old, the Paris-based startup has earned a reputation as Europe’s leading AI vendor, even as Europe is significantly behind the U.S. and China inthe AI race. Its U.S. rivals, also startups, have dwarfed Mistral in fundraising and sales, with Anthropic raising $130 billion at a $965 billion valuation and OpenAI raising $190 billion at an $852 billion valuation. Even more recent Chinese startups have grown faster, with Moonshot AI now valued at $50 billion and DeepSeek at $74.5 billion.
Many European enterprises valuesovereign AI, the increasingly popular
However, many European enterprises valuesovereign AI, the increasingly popular approach that enables a country, region, or organization to build, run, and govern AI using its own infrastructure, data, models, and talent.
The Sovereign AI Benefit
Mistral, from its inception, allied itself with sovereign AI but focused first on building small open-weight models. It has now evolved to prioritizesovereign AIand infrastructure in addition to AI models. And, as the top AI company in Europe, it appeals to enterprises there that are conscious of where their data is going and where and how their AI operations are taking place.
“The new business that [Mistral is] winning is primarily because of their AI sovereignty and the fact that they are a European model provider,” said Arun Chandrasekaran, an analyst at Gartner. “The sovereignty is something that they are taking advantage of.”
He added that while the focus on sovereign
He added that while the focus on sovereign AI works for Mistral, the vendor is also looking to expand to other areas with its new funding and sees Southeast Asia as an opportunity.
The funding will enable the vendor to continueinvesting in infrastructure. Previously, Mistral spent $1.4 billion to build a major AI data center in Sweden. It also secured $830 million in debt financing to fund a data center in Paris. Beyond infrastructure, Mistral said it will use the money to become an AI platform for enterprises.
“They realize that for them to be successful, they have to be a platform provider that can package infrastructure, models and platform tools together,” Chandrasekaran said.
Aside fromSamsung, theScaleup Europe Fundand Boston-based PSG Equity
Aside fromSamsung, theScaleup Europe Fundand Boston-based PSG Equity were investors in the funding round. The fact that Mistral is backed by a giant multinational like Samsung is also noteworthy, as it indicates the direction Mistral is headed, said Nick Patience, an analyst at Futurum Group.
“It’s about building models for industry-specific use cases,” Patience said, noting that Samsung’s investment in the company is tied to building models specifically for semiconductor design and manufacturing.
Samsung is not only an investor but also a partner with the French startup. With the new partnership, Samsung will integrate Mistral’s models and services across its semiconductor operations. The company will also use Mistral models to design custom AI systems that help with the design and manufacturing of specialized semiconductors.
While Mistral continues to shift its strategy toward
However, while Mistral continues to shift its strategy toward open from that strategy, Patience said
He added that most enterprise buyers don’t care about a company’s valuation but are more concerned about whether it can deliver and remain stable.
