French artificial intelligence company Mistral has raised 3 billion euros in a Series D round, a record for any European technology company, the firm announced on Tuesday.
The round values Mistral at more than 21 billion euros after the investment. The company described it as the largest equity round ever completed by a European technology business.
A record round for Europe
Samsung Electronics led the round together with the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund and existing investor PSG Equity, which served as co-leads. Advent International and funds managed by BlackRock also took part.
The size of the raise puts Mistral among the best-funded AI startups in the world, though it still trails the sums raised by leading American labs. The deal is a milestone for Europe, where policymakers have pushed to build homegrown AI champions instead of relying on US firms.
Who is backing Mistral
Samsung's leading role stands out, since the South Korean giant is one of the world's largest makers of memory chips and consumer electronics. The involvement of a hardware company suggests investors see AI software and devices moving closer together.
EQT's Scaleup Europe Fund and PSG Equity have both backed fast-growing technology companies across the region, while Advent and BlackRock are among the largest investors in private markets globally.
What it means for Europe's AI race
Mistral was founded in Paris in 2023 by former Google DeepMind and Meta researchers. It has built a reputation for models that are more open than those of rivals and that can be deployed on different types of hardware, from cloud servers to laptops.
The company competes directly with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in the race to sell AI assistants and developer tools to businesses. European governments have watched that race with unease, and the new funding gives one of their home teams the resources to stay in it.