Mistral AI is just four weeks old.

Mistral AI, a French start-up founded by former researchers from Meta (NASDAQ: META) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), has raised a record-breaking €105 million (US$113.7 million) in Europe’s largest-ever seed round. The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from notable investors such as Eric Schmidt, Xavier Niel, and Bpifrance.

The funding round values the Paris-based company at €240 million (US$ 259.8 million), reflecting the increasing interest and investment in artificial intelligence (AI). It also is a nod to Europe’s ambition to establish itself as a viable competitor to Silicon Valley giants like OpenAI and DeepMind. (FT)

Mistral AI plans to develop a “large language model” similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT app. Despite being only four weeks old, Mistral AI has attracted significant attention due to the expertise of its founders and the potential of generative AI to transform various industries.

Mistral’s funding marks the largest seed round in Europe to date, with over $4 billion invested in AI-related companies in the region this year, compared to $25 billion in the US.

The company’s success comes as European policymakers aim to strike a balance between developing AI capabilities and implementing regulations to mitigate potential negative effects.

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay