Paris-based generative AI startup Mistral AI said Tuesday it raised $3.5 billion in a Series D that values the company at more than $24 billion, nearly doubling its worth from a $13.7 billion valuation just a year ago.
Samsung Electronics led the round, with co-leads from Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT, and existing investor PSG Equity. The financing comes nearly one year to the day after Mistral’s $2 billion Series C. The company has now raised $7.5 billion since its 2023 inception.
The round keeps Mistral as the most highly valued foundation-model company in Europe. Seven private frontier labs globally now sit above the $20 billion mark on Crunchbase's unicorn board — eight when including China's ByteDance — with the remainder based in the U.S. and China.
Mistral builds AI models for text generation, code writing and document analysis, positioning it against U.S. rivals OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Unlike many American competitors, Mistral offers models that companies can customize and run on their own systems rather than relying exclusively on third-party cloud providers. The company operates in 20 countries and counts more than 125 global enterprises among its customers, including Airbus, ASML, BMW and HSBC.
In a statement, Mistral said the new capital will expand its frontier research and accelerate commercial growth and its international footprint.
Europe's venture-funding momentum is strengthening. The region posted its strongest quarter in four years during Q2, raising $24 billion — up roughly a third from the prior quarter and two-thirds higher than the $14.4 billion raised in Q2 2025, according to Crunchbase data.
Mistral's latest round eclipses its own $2 billion Series C, which at the time was Europe's largest venture round for an AI company. Several other large AI-related deals have closed in Europe this year. London-based Google spinoff Isomorphic Labs raised $2.1 billion in a Series B in May led by Thrive Capital. AI data-center provider Nscale raised $2 billion in a Series C in March at a $14.6 billion valuation, co-led by 8090 Industries and Aker, and has since secured several billion in debt financing.
