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Mistral AI Seeks $1B Funding at $10B Valuation with MGX, VCs - InforCapital

French AI firm Mistral aims to raise $1B at $10B valuation, partnering with MGX and top VCs to expand its global AI presence.

AM
Alvaro de la Maza

Partner at Aninver

Key Takeaways

  • Sector: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Technology Software & Gaming.
  • Geography: France.

Analysis

Paris-based AI startup Mistral is reportedly in advanced talks with venture capital firms and Abu Dhabi’s MGX to raise $1 billion at a company valuation of $10 billion, according to the Financial Times.

If completed, this round would propel growth of its chatbot platform Le Chat and support ongoing development of its advanced large language models that emphasize reasoning logic.

Mistral’s funding history shows remarkable momentum: in June 2023 it completed a record-breaking €105 million seed round (~$113 million) led by Lightspeed Venture Partners alongside investors such as Eric Schmidt, Xavier Niel and JCDecaux, valuing the company at ~€240 million. In December 2023 it raised €385 million (~$415 million) in a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Salesforce, BNP Paribas and General Catalyst, pushing valuation to around €2 billion. A further extension in early 2024 added ~€15 million. Then in June 2024 Mistral closed a €600 million (~$640 million) Series B led by General Catalyst with major investors including Nvidia, Cisco, IBM, Samsung, BNP Paribas, Salesforce Ventures, and DST Global—taking the valuation to €5.8 billion (~$6 billion).

MGX (MGX Fund Management Limited) is a government-owned Emirati fund launched in 2024 by Abu Dhabi’s AI & Advanced Technology Council. With founding partners Mubadala Investment Company and AI conglomerate G42, MGX targets managing up to $100 billion in assets to invest in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, compute and advanced tech globally. It is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan and led by Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi to accelerate technology innovation across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and North America.

MGX is also backing a partnership with BlackRock and Microsoft in a multi‑billion dollar AI infrastructure fund, and has teamed up with Mistral and NVIDIA on plans for a joint venture to build Europe’s largest AI campus near Paris, highlighting expanding collaboration between the Gulf and European AI ecosystems.

With its open‑weight strategy and founder pedigree from Google DeepMind and Meta, Mistral has emerged as a leading challenger to U.S. and Chinese AI firms. This new funding drive aims to boost its market traction as it competes with global players like OpenAI, Anthropic and Inflection AI.