SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

Paris-based is closing in on a huge new round that would value the and competitor at $6 billion, .

Mistral is reportedly seeking to raise around $600 million from existing investors and .

The new round would triple Mistral’s valuation from just last December when it raised approximately $415 million that would value the company at $2 billion, per a . That round was reportedly led by and included participation from General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners and .

In addition, Mistral AI also has a number of strategic backers. Both and 1 reportedly contributed convertible debt to the December deal. In late February, it was announced had invested about $16 million into the startup. Then in early March it was announced had invested an undisclosed amount.

Quick money

This is not the first time Mistral has wasted little time between raising rounds. The December raise came just six months after the startup — which is developing an open-source large language model — raised a seed round worth approximately $111 million led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The round is just the latest illustration of investors’ unending appetite for all things AI.

Despite some predictions of AI funding declining in 2024, funding to AI-related startups actually increased in Q1 2024 compared to Q4 2023, SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ shows.

The first quarter saw $12.2 billion invested in venture-backed AI startups in 1,166 deals. The dollar amount represents a modest 4% uptick from last year’s final quarter, which saw $11.7 billion go to similar startups in 1,072 deals.

Related SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Pro query

Related reading

• OpenAI Competitor Mistral AI Nabs $415M Round, Hitting $2B Valuation
• AI Funding Stays Strong Despite Few Billion-Dollar Rounds