Samsung in talks to invest in Mistral at about a €20bn valuation

In short: Samsung is in talks to invest hundreds of millions of euros, possibly up to €1bn, in French AI start-up Mistral in a funding round that could value it at about €20bn.

What happened

Samsung is discussing a new investment in Mistral as part of a broader fundraising round, according to people familiar with the talks. The round could value Mistral at roughly €20bn. The terms are not final and could still change.

Samsung has backed Mistral before through its venture arm. Mistral is reportedly trying to raise several billion euros in total. That would come less than a year after it was valued at €12bn in a deal led by ASML.

Other investors are also in discussions. The Financial Times reports that EQT’s Scaleup Europe Fund is talking about joining the round. Mistral, Samsung, and EQT declined to comment.

Mistral is known for “open” AI models, which means customers can run and control them more directly (like buying software you can install yourself, instead of only using it through someone else’s website). The company has also been building more computing capacity, including Nvidia-powered data centres in Europe.

Why it matters

This story shows how much money and planning goes into getting enough computer chips and data centre capacity to run modern AI systems. It also reflects growing interest in non-US AI options, especially after the US restricted foreign access to some Anthropic AI models. For businesses and governments, having alternatives can reduce the risk of being cut off from tools they rely on.

Source: Financial Times