While Europe may lag overall in the race for global AI dominance, the region has produced some strong contenders.
Among them, the most heavily funded and probably best known is Paris-based generative AI startup Mistral AI, which was in the spotlight today with the announcement of a roughly $2 billion Series C round.
Semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML Holding led the financing, joined by a long list of existing investors 1. The round sets a $13.7 billion valuation for the 2-year-old company, which is roughly double the level set in its June 2024 Series B.
The new valuation may sound middle-of-the-road by California benchmarks, with San Francisco-based Anthropic now valued at $183 billion and OpenAI reportedly eyeing the $500 billion mark. By European standards, however, Mistral’s latest fundraise and valuation are a historically big deal.
Record-setting AI round for Europe
Per Crunchbase data, Mistral’s Series C is the largest venture round ever raised by a European AI company.
No one else comes close. For perspective, here are the four next-largest AI startup equity financings, ordered by size:
- Wayve, $1.08B, Series C: London-based autonomous driving software developer Wayve raised $1.08 billion in a May 2024 Series C led by SoftBank.
- Celonis, $1B, Series D: Celonis, a provider of “process mining” tools for businesses to find and fix inefficiencies, which has headquarters in Munich and New York, secured $1 billion in a 2021 Series D.
- Helsing, $700M, Series D: Helsing, a developer of AI-enabled autonomous systems for the defense industry, including drones, raised $700 million in a June Series D.
- Isomorphic Labs, $600 million, initial funding: London-based Isomorphic Labs, a Google spinoff focused on AI-enabled drug detection, raised $600 million in an initial funding round led by Thrive Capital.
For more deals, we put together a list of all European AI-related financings of $200 million or more from the past five years here.
Mistral also stands out for its GenAI focus
Of the largest European AI rounds, it’s also noteworthy that Mistral is the only GenAI play near the top of the rankings. The company is marketing its offerings to enterprises, pitching its proficiency in content creation, data analysis and AI-assisted coding.
One thing the company is not marketing itself as is a bargain to investors. Looking purely at its valuation, however, it is certainly a lot cheaper than leading U.S. GenAI names.
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