Mistral in Talks for a €3 Billion Funding Round

French startup Mistral AI is in early talks to raise around €3 billion in a new funding round. If the news turns out to be accurate, it could value the firm at roughly €20 billion.

The terms of the proposed raise may still change, and the valuation could also move higher depending on investor demand. The rumoured round would strengthen Mistral AI’s position as Europe’s main AI challenger by providing the company with more capital as AI players face rising costs for computing power, infrastructure and talent across the globe. It would also mark a sharp jump from the €11.7 billion valuation Mistral AI secured in September 2025 when Dutch chipmaker ASML became the largest shareholder in the company with an 11% stake after leading a €1.7 billion Series C funding round.

The startup has positioned itself as a sovereign alternative to US and Chinese AI players, targeting European governments and companies with plans to build out cloud computing facilities in France and Sweden. Mistral AI recently also moved to target industrial customers including Airbus and BMW for services covering engineering and manufacturing. The French player acquired Austrian start-up Emmi AI last month as part of efforts to expand its services to industrial customers in Europe.

However, the company still trails larger rivals as its models and chatbot have still not matched the adoption of offerings from US players OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as Chinese competitors. Last month, Anthropic raised $65 billion in a funding round valuing it at $965 billion, eclipsing OpenAI’s $852 billion valuation following its latest funding round in March.