Paris-based AI startup Mistral has raised €3 billion in a Series D funding round, pushing its valuation past €21 billion and marking what it says is the largest equity fundraising by a European technology company. The deal reinforces Mistral's position as Europe's leading "sovereign AI" contender, positioning itself as an alternative to US giants such as OpenAI and Anthropic for governments and organisations wary of ceding control over critical AI infrastructure to overseas providers.

The round was jointly led by Samsung Electronics, the EU-backed Scaleup Europe Fund and existing investor PSG Equity, and follows a €1.7 billion Series C a year earlier that valued the company at €11.7 billion, led by ASML with Nvidia and Andreessen Horowitz also participating. Mistral's customers include Airbus, and its sovereign pitch has gained traction after the US briefly imposed (then lifted) export restrictions on Anthropic in June, stoking European concerns about dependence on foreign technology. Despite the growth, Mistral remains far smaller than US rivals such as OpenAI, which closed a round with $122 billion in committed capital in March at an $852 billion valuation, and Mistral itself continues to rely partly on Nvidia investment and hardware for its datacentres.