- Mistral plans to IPO instead of a sale, its CEO said in an interview at the World Economic Forum.
- Founded in 2023, Mistral develops open-source large language models.
- Mistral, one of Europe’s top AI startups, has raised over €1 billion since its launch.
French AI startup Mistral, often billed as Europe’s answer to OpenAI, plans to take the initial public offering route instead of being acquired, its cofounder and CEO Arthur Mensch said at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
Launched in 2023 by former DeepMind and Meta researchers, Mistral is building open-source large language models, known as LLMs, and has released a generative AI chatbot called “Le Chat.” It claims its models can run much faster than its competitors.
Amid industry chatter that consolidation could be on the cards for LLM startups this year, Mensch said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Davos, Switzerland, that Mistral “is not for sale” and that his company would instead look to IPO at some point.
Mistral is one of Europe’s most valuable AI startups and the continent’s only contender that has created AI models to rival the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic.
It has raised consecutive mega-rounds totaling over €1 billion since its inception — last raking in €600 million (around $620 million) in a round led by General Catalyst at a $6.2 billion valuation in June 2024.
Mensch added that Mistral would be opening an office in Singapore while doubling down on growth in the US and Europe.
“We are the only European company that is providing what we provide,” Mensch said, adding that being based in Europe brought a “lot of strengths,” such as a strong talent pool. “We have a tendency to play referee in a trillion-dollar race, but we have the strength — we just need to have the will to create in Europe.”
Mistral recently signed a contract with a NASDAQ-listed blue-chip company and also inked a multi-million euro deal with French media company Agence France-Presse to incorporate its articles into its chatbot.
OpenAI has also signed similar content licensing deals with Axel Springer, News Corp, and the Financial Times.
Mistral started ramping up its hiring spree in Palo Alto at the end of last year in a bid to establish a transatlantic presence and attract more AI talent.
Editor’s Note: Business Insider is owned by Axel Springer.
