ASML becomes biggest Mistral shareholder with EU1.3b investment
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The news: Dutch chip equipment maker ASML agreed to invest EU1.3 billion ($2.31 billion) in AI startup Mistral AI, becoming the French company’s largest investor with an 11% stake.
The numbers: Mistral said on Tuesday that it raised a total of EU1.7 billion in its Series C funding round, valuing the almost two-year-old startup at close to EU12 billion, including the new funds raised. The new valuation more than doubles the USD6 billion valuation Mistral achieved in May last year.
The context: A statement released by ASML says the companies will integrate Mistral’s AI models across the ASML product portfolio, as well as its research, development and operations units.
ASML will also gain a board set on Mistral’s strategic committee through finance chief Roger Dassen.
The funding round includes participation from existing investors: DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Bpifrance, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Lightspeed and NVIDIA.
Mistral was founded by former researchers from Google DeepMind and Meta and is emerging as a European frontrunner and alternative to the large US artificial intelligence players. However, it remains very small compared to US rivals, with OpenAI recently eyeing a valuation of around USD500 billion, which would be over 40 times Mistral’s valuation.
What they said: “This investment brings together two technology leaders operating in the same value chain. We have the ambition to help ASML and its numerous partners solve current and future engineering challenges through AI, and ultimately to advance the full semiconductor and AI value chain”, said Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch.
ASML president and CEO Christophe Fouquet said: “We believe that this strategic partnership with Mistral AI, which goes beyond a traditional vendor-client relationship, is the best way to capture this significant opportunity. We also believe that this collaboration is value enhancing to Mistral AI.”
The sources: Mistral AI, ASML
