Mistral AI's Valuation Skyrockets to $6B

Paris-based AI firm, Mistral AI, is reportedly closing on a significant fundraising round that would triple its valuation to $6B. This report comes from The Wall Street Journal, noting that the firm seeks to gather around $600M from its present investors, General Catalyst and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Rapid Increase in Valuation

This round would signify a substantial elevation from the company’s valuation just last December. At that time, Mistral AI raised around $415M, setting its worth at $2B, as per a Bloomberg report. That round was reportedly spearheaded by Andreessen Horowitz and encompassed participation from General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Bpifrance.

Strategic Backers Boosting Mistral AI

Mistral AI’s financial backing extends beyond standard investors. Tech giants Nvidia and Salesforce are said to have contributed convertible debt to the December deal. Furthermore, Microsoft invested around $16M into the startup in late February. In early March, Databricks Ventures invested an undisclosed amount.

Consistent Fundraising Efforts

This isn’t the first time Mistral AI has seen short intervals between fundraising rounds. The December round occurred just six months after the startup, which is developing an open-source large language model, raised a seed round worth approximately $111M led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

AI Investment Trends

This recent round showcases the persistent investment interest in AI technologies. Despite some forecasts predicting a decline in AI funding in 2024, investment in AI-related startups has actually escalated in Q1 2024 compared to Q4 2023. Crunchbase data indicates that the first quarter saw $12.2B invested in venture-backed AI startups in 1,166 deals. This dollar amount denotes a modest 4% increase from last year’s final quarter, which witnessed $11.7B go to similar startups in 1,072 deals.