Samsung Leads €3 Billion Mistral Funding Round

Mistral AI secured €3 billion in a Series D funding round co-led by Samsung. This new capital injection has elevated the French AI enterprise’s valuation to over €21 billion as it accelerates efforts to develop sovereign frontier AI solutions.

Samsung co-led the round alongside the EU-backed Scaleup Europe Fund and existing investor PSG Equity. According to Mistral, this represents the most significant equity financing round ever conducted by a European technology firm. New participants included the private equity firm Advent and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, while existing backers such as Mistral’s largest shareholder ASML, Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, and Bpifrance also contributed.

Mistral indicated that the capital will facilitate the expansion of its frontier AI research and computational capacity, while supporting infrastructure investment, model development, commercial scaling, and international growth. Last year, the startup secured €1.7 billion at an €11.7 billion valuation in a Series C round led by ASML.

The firm observed that demand is increasing for sovereign AI that integrates high performance with rigorous control, as enterprises and governments evaluate long-term technological dependencies and data governance requirements. Mistral highlighted its full-stack, open-weight model approach as a sovereign AI framework that provides organizations with enhanced control over their data, models, and production environments.

The European initiative for technological autonomy has gained momentum following a U.S. decision in June to restrict foreign access to two advanced AI models. Mistral CFO Johan Bergqvist emphasized the importance of Europe maintaining its own AI providers. He noted that political factors often influence access to these solutions and that organizations must ensure their continued participation in the AI supply chain. Bergqvist also stated that the company is on track to achieve $1 billion in annual recurring revenue by year-end, with growth increasingly driven by North America and Asia, adding that a potential IPO remains a viable option.