Mistral AI, a new artificial intelligence (AI) startup, has raised $113 million in a seed funding round.
Mistral AI, an artificial intelligence startup created by former Meta and Google researchers, has raised $113 million in funding in a seed funding round, raising its valuation to $260 million just two months after its launch. Former AI researchers who previously worked at Google Deep Mind and Meta founded Mistral AI in May 2023 to develop open source generative AI models.
Former Meta and Google Researchers Are Among The Founders Of The Company
Arthur Mensch, co-founder and CEO of the company, stated that the first round of funding will provide the resources they need to start delivering a productive AI model.
Prior to founding Mistral AI, Mensch was a research scientist at Google Deep Mind. The other two co-founders, Timothee Lacroix and Guillaume Lample, were research engineers and research scientists at Facebook AI, respectively.
Investment companies such as JCDecaux, Rodolphe Saade and Motier Ventures also participated in the financing round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The company, which aims to rival OpenAI, is currently in the hiring process. The company, which will be managed from Paris and plans to launch the first artificial intelligence models in 2024, continues its search for artificial intelligence researchers, software engineers and product developers.
Recently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met with South Korean President Yoon Sui Yeol and urged the country to lead the production of the chips needed for artificial intelligence technology.
OpenAI currently uses chips from Taiwan, but Altman explained that there may be a need for an alternative supply of chips from South Korea in the future.