Mistral AI, the French company behind AI assistant Le Chat and several fundamental models, is officially considered one of France’s most promising technical businesses and is probably the only European company to compete with Openai. But compared to the valuation of $ 6 billion, the global market share is still relatively low.

However, the recent launch of his chat assistant in mobile app stores had a little hype, especially in his homeland. “Download Le Chat, made by Mistral, rather than Chatgpt by Openai -or something else,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a TV interview before the AI ​​action in Paris.

Although this wave of attention can be encouraging, Mistral AI still faces challenges in competition with people like Openai-and it does while keeping up with his self-definition as ‘the world’s greenest and leading independent AI lab’.

What is mistral ai?

Mistral AI has collected significant amounts of financing since its creation in 2023 with the ambition to put “Frontier AI in the hands of all”. Although not a direct stitch at Openai, the slogan is intended to emphasize the company’s advocacy for openness in AI.

The alternative to Chatgpt, Chatassistor Le Chat, is now also available on iOS and Android. It reached 1 million downloads in the two weeks after its mobile release, and even grabbed France’s top position for free downloads in the iOS App Store.

This comes in addition to mistral AI’s range of models, which include:

Who are Mistral AI’s founders?

Mistral AI’s three founders share a background in AI research at major US technical companies with significant operations in Paris. CEO Arthur Mensch used to work at Google’s Deepmind earlier, while Cto Timothée Lacroix and Chief Scientific Officer Guillaume Lample are former Meta staff members.

Co-founding advisers also include Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve (also a board member) and Charles Gorintin of Alan’s health insurance, as well as the former digital minister Cédric O, which cause controversy because of his previous role.

Are mistral ai’s models open source?

Not all of them. Mistral ai distinguishes its leading models whose weights is not available for commercial purposes, from the free models, for which it offers weight access under the Apache 2.0 license.

Free models include research models such as Mistral Nemo, which is built in collaboration with Nvidia that the boot Open in July 2024.

How does Mistral Ai Make Money?

Although much of Mistral AI’s offer is free or now has free levels, Mistral plans AI to achieve revenue from Le Chat’s paid levels. Le Chat’s Pro plan, launched in February 2025, is priced at $ 14.99 a month.

On the pure B2B side, Mistral AI earns its leading models through APIs with use-based prices. Businesses can also license these models, and the company probably also produces a significant part of its income from its strategic partnerships, some of which were highlighted during the Paris AI summit.

In general, however, the revenue of mistral AI is still in the eight-digit series according to multiple sources.

What partnerships have entered into mistral ai?

In 2024, Mistral AI entered into an agreement with Microsoft that included a strategic partnership to distribute its AI models by Microsoft’s Azure platform and an € 15 million investment. The UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) quickly concluded that the agreement due to the small size is not eligible for investigation for investigation. However, it also fueled some criticism in the EU.

In January 2025, Mistral AI entered into an agreement with the Press Agence Agence France Presse (AFP) to ask the AFP’s entire Text Archive dating back to 1983.

Mistral AI has also secured strategic partnerships with France army and job agencyGerman defense technical boot Helsing, IBM, Orangeand Stellantis.

How much financing has Mistral AI raised so far?

From February 2025, Mistral AI has raised about € 1 billion in capital so far, about $ 1.04 billion at the current exchange rate. This includes some debt financing, as well as several equity finances raised in close succession.

In June 2023, and before it even released its first models, Mistral AI led a record of $ 112 million in seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Sources said the seed round at the time – Europe’s largest ever -The then one-month-old begins to be valued at $ 260 million.

Other investors in this seed round were Bpifrance, Eric Schmidt, Exor Ventures, First Minute Capital, Headline, JcDecaux Holding, La Famiglia, Localglobe, Motier Ventures, Rodolphe Saadé, Sofina and Xavier Niel.

Only six months later, it closed a series of € 385 million (at the time $ 415 million), with a reported valuation of $ 2 billion. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z), with participation of existing backsle Lightspeed, as well as BNP Paribas, CMA-CGM, conviction, Elad Gil, General Catalyst and Salesforce.

The convertible $ 16.3 million investment made by Microsoft in Mistral AI as part of their partnership announced in February 2024 was offered as an expansion of the series A, which implies an unchanged valuation.

In June 2024, Mistral AI then collected € 600 million in a mixture of equity and debt (about $ 640 million at the time at the exchange rate). The long rumors round was led by general catalyst with a valuation of $ 6 billion, with significant investors, including Cisco, IBM, Nvidia, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, and others.

What can a Mistral AI exit look like?

Mistral is “not for sale”, Humanch said in January 2025 at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Of course (an IPO is) the plan.”

This makes sense, given how much the start so far raised: even a big sale may not offer a large enough multiple for its investors, not to mention sovereignty matters, depending on the acquirer.

However, the only way to crush rumors to sustained acquisitions is to scale its revenue to levels that could justify even the valuation of nearly $ 6 billion. Either way, stay tuned.