Mistral Reportedly Eyes US Expansion to Take on AI Giants

Mistral is reportedly boosting its U.S. expansion to compete with Silicon Valley tech giants.

The $6 billion French artificial intelligence (AI) startup — the most valuable in Europe — is building an office in Palo Alto as it looks to hire U.S.-based engineers and scientists, as well as expanding its U.S. sales team, the Financial Times (FT) reported Tuesday (Nov. 26).

And Guillaume Lample, one of the company’s three co-founders, is considering a move from Paris, two sources familiar with the company’s thinking told the FT. (A third source said no decisions have been made.)

As the FT notes, Mistral has been touted by French President Emmanuel Macron as a sign that Europe can compete with the U.S. and China in creating cutting-edge AI. Many other European startups have already begun sourcing talent, funds and customers from the U.S., the world’s biggest tech market.

“At the heart of Mistral AI’s success lies its strategic approach to AI development, which strikes a balance between open-source sharing and proprietary innovation,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this year when the company reached its $6 billion valuation.

“By releasing models like Mistral 7B and Mistral 8x22B under the Apache 2.0 license, the company encourages collaboration and accelerates the collective progress of AI research.”

The company’s proprietary models, such as Mistral Large and Codestral, are poised to fuel commercial applications across industries. Businesses can employ these AI solutions through APIs, opening up new opportunities for efficiency, automation and personalization.

But the FT report argues that Mistral may have a tougher time striking a “transatlantic balance,” as the company has billed itself as an alternative to the prevalence of American AI companies by offering “sovereign AI” to users in Europe and other parts of the globe.

At the same time, the company has won the backing of venture capital groups like Andreessen Horowitz as well as tech giants such as Microsoft and Nvidia.

According to the report, Mistral is hiring a team of AI scientists and engineers in California, as well as sales and administrative staff. The company currently has more than 100 employees, most of whom are based in Paris. Sources told the FT the company has around 20 workers in the Bay Area, most of whom joined Mistral in the last six months.