Paris-based startup Mistral AI announced the successful closure of its highly anticipated Series A funding round, raising €385 million (approximately $415 million USD). The funding round, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and several other prominent investors, values the company at an estimated $2 billion.
Key Takeaway
Mistral AI has raised $415 million in its Series A funding round, valuing the company at $2 billion. The startup aims to become a European leader in generative artificial intelligence with an open and responsible approach. Its release of foundational models, such as Mistral 7B and Mixtral 8x7B, has garnered attention, and Mistral AI has also played a significant role in shaping the EU’s AI Act. With the introduction of its developer platform, the company plans to monetize its models through paid API access.
Expanding European Rivalry with OpenAI
Mistral AI, founded by former Google’s DeepMind and Meta personnel, aims to become a European champion in the field of generative artificial intelligence. The company’s strategic objective is to develop open, decentralized, and responsible AI technology. With its latest funding, Mistral AI is poised to strengthen its position in the market and challenge OpenAI.
Groundbreaking Models and Open Technology
Mistral AI achieved a significant milestone in September with the release of its first model, Mistral 7B. Unlike competing models, Mistral 7B was trained on a relatively smaller dataset of around 7 billion parameters. Developers were allowed to freely download the model and run it on their own devices and servers to encourage exploration and innovation.
Advocacy for Regulatory Exemption and EU’s AI Act
Mistral AI played a crucial role in shaping discussions around the European Union’s AI Act. The startup lobbied for a total exemption for foundational models, arguing that regulation should focus on use cases and companies directly serving end users. EU lawmakers recently reached a political deal which imposes transparency requirements on companies working with foundational models. These companies will be required to share technical documentation and dataset summaries.
Developer Platform and Revenue Strategy
To monetize its foundational models, Mistral AI has introduced a developer platform in beta. This platform allows companies to access Mistral AI’s models via application programming interfaces (APIs) for a fee. Alongside Mistral 7B, developers can now also utilize the Mixtral 8x7B model, which utilizes a router network to process input tokens efficiently. While Mistral 7B and Mixtral 8x7B are available for free download, the higher-performing Mistral-medium model is exclusively accessible through the paid API platform.
