French AI startup Mistral AI has raised €385m in funding

French artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI has announced that it has raised €385 million ($414 million) in its second round of funding.

Here's What We Know

The round was led by US venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz. Other investors include tech giants like Salesforce and Nvidia.

Another round of funding allowed the company to reach a $2bn valuation and become one of the leaders in AI in Europe. Mistral plans to use the raised funds to expand its team and develop its own language models based on AI technologies.

The emergence of European players such as Mistral comes amid EU efforts to regulate AI. At the same time, France and Germany fear that excessive restrictions could hinder the development of promising startups in the field.

Founded in May 2023, Mistral has already managed to raise €105 million in its first round of funding in June. It currently has 22 employees.

Mistral's three French co-founders previously had experience at large US tech companies.

Source: TechXplore