Mistral AI, France’s Startup Darling, Takes Aim at the US Market

France’s Mistral AI launched in early 2023 as a European rival to OpenAI, building generative artificial intelligence tools tailored for the continent. Now Mistral is going after OpenAI’s home turf.

In May, the Parisian startup hired Marjorie Janiewicz, the former chief revenue officer of Foursquare, as its first US general manager. In an interview, she said the startup is “gaining momentum” with its US business and plans to hire more staff. According to Janiewicz, some traction is coming from businesses looking for alternatives to the AI models and services from large providers like OpenAI and Google. “They do not want to be forced into an AI stack,” she said. “They want choices.”

Mistral’s performance in the US will likely be closely watched in Europe, which has historically struggled to produce globally dominant platforms. The startup, set up by former AI researchers at Google DeepMind and Meta Platforms Inc., is the continent’s hottest AI project. It has attracted more than $500 million in investment from venture capitalists, billionaires and a French public bank, and is reportedly in talks to raise another round at a valuation of $6 billion. (Mistral didn’t comment on current fundraising plans.) In its first year, Mistral released a series of AI models, which power generative AI services, and a ChatGPT-like feature called Le Chat. Arthur Mensch, Mistral’s chief executive, has said his small company can compete with OpenAI and Google.