Mistral AI raises 3 billion euros in Europe’s largest-ever tech funding round despite lagging behind rivals
Three years after launch, Mistral AI has closed a 3 billion euro Series D round, pushing its valuation past 21 billion euros. According to Mistral, it’s the largest equity funding round any European tech company has ever raised. Samsung Electronics is leading the round, with the Scaleup Europe Fund (managed by EQT) and PSG Equity joining as co-leads. New investors include Advent, funds managed by BlackRock, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Existing backers like a16z, Nvidia, ASML, and General Catalyst are also participating.
The company’s valuation has roughly doubled. When ASML invested 1.3 billion euros in September 2025, Mistral was worth about 12 billion euros. In March, the company also took out an $830 million loan to fund its own data centers.
Mistral’s models aren’t top performers, though. Mistral Medium 3.5 trails Chinese competitors like Qwen and Kimi among open models and doesn’t compete with closed US models at all. The company leans into enterprise instead. It operates in 20 countries and serves more than 125 companies, including Airbus, ASML, and HSBC. Since early 2026, Mistral has benefited heavily from European customers looking to cut their reliance on US providers.
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