Europe returns into AI headlines as Mistral funding, ASML chip giant partnerships close
Europe made its latest attempt to reclaim AI prominence as France’s Mistral AI closed a €3 billion ($3.5 billion) funding round that pushed its valuation past €21 billion on the same day that the continent’s most valuable firm, Dutch equipment maker ASML, unveiled fresh arrangements with chip-manufacturing giants, Samsung and TSMC.
Both moves line up as evidence for those who believe homegrown European AI firms still have a path to offering serious competition to models from US AI labs and cloud giants riding the AI wave to valuation booms.
Who led Europe’s largest tech raise?
Mistral is touting the Samsung Electronics-led Series D equity fundraising it revealed on September 8 as the largest ever by a European technology company.
The Paris-based firm, which launched three years ago, has now doubled its valuation in a year with participation from Scaleup Europe Fund, PSG Equity, Advent, a16z, NVIDIA, Bpifrance, Index Ventures and prior shareholders followed on.
Funds managed by BlackRock and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg also joined the round managed by EQT.
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