French artificial intelligence start-up Mistral is seeking a valuation of $10bn in its next fundraising round, as part of a push to compete with deep-pocketed US and Chinese rivals in the cutting-edge technology.
The Paris-based group is in discussions with investors, including venture capital funds and Abu Dhabi’s AI fund MGX, about raising $1bn, according to people familiar with the process. This would value Mistral at about $10bn, up from its previous valuation of €5.8bn.
The money would be used to further the commercial rollout of Mistral’s Le Chat chatbot and the continued improvement of its large language models, the people said. Talks over the fundraising have not been finalised so the valuation and proceeds could still change.