Mistral AI bags $24 billion valuation as Samsung leads funding for Europe's AI champion

Mistral AI announced a €3 billion ($3.5 billion) Series D funding round led by Samsung Electronics, valuing the Paris-based startup at over €21 billion (~$24 billion). Co-leads included Scaleup Europe Fund (managed by EQT) and PSG Equity, with new investors BlackRock, Advent, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and existing backers a16z, ASML, General Catalyst, Lightspeed, NVIDIA, and Salesforce Ventures also participating. CEO Arthur Mensch said proceeds will fund data center infrastructure and training of bigger, faster models. Mistral's ARR surpassed $400 million in February 2026 and the company is on track to exceed $1 billion ARR by year-end, serving 125+ enterprises across 20 countries.