French AI startup Mistral is reportedly in discussions to raise up to $1 billion in equity, with potential backing from Abu Dhabi’s MGX fund, according to Bloomberg sources.
In addition to equity, Mistral is also in talks with French institutions such as Bpifrance SACA to secure hundreds of millions of euros in debt financing, Bloomberg reports.
Known for developing the Le Chat chatbot and specializing in open-weight large language models (LLMs), Mistral has emerged as a major force in Europe’s AI sector. So far, the company has raised $1.19 billion, reaching a $6.51 billion post-money valuation, per PitchBook. Its most recent funding round was a Series B in June 2024.
Mistral is already collaborating with MGX—a $100 billion government-backed AI fund—and Nvidia to build Europe’s largest AI data center campus. The UAE has also pledged €50 billion toward AI projects in France, aligning with President Emmanuel Macron’s vision for AI sovereignty.
