Mistral AI, a Paris-based startup specializing in large language models (LLMs), is reportedly in discussions with investors to raise new funding at a valuation of $5 billion. This information was reported by The Information, which cited a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
The company has experienced a rapid increase in valuation, with a previous investment round in December raising $415 million and valuing the company at $2 billion. Since then, Mistral AI has raised additional funds, including a $16.3 million investment from Microsoft Corp. in February and an undisclosed sum from Databricks Inc. last month.
Mistral AI’s recent developments include the launch of its newest open-source LLM, Mixtral 8x22B, which is based on a mixture-of-experts architecture. This model has demonstrated competitive performance in internal evaluations, outperforming Meta Platforms Inc.’s Llama 2 70B in several math and coding benchmark tests. The mixture-of-experts approach also offers the benefit of reduced hardware usage, as it activates only the necessary neural networks for a given prompt.
The company has begun generating revenue with the introduction of its first commercial offerings, which include Mistral Large, an advanced LLM, Mistral Small, a more cost-efficient language model, and a ChatGPT-like enterprise chatbot. These products were launched on the same day Mistral announced its partnership with Microsoft.
Mistral AI’s efforts to secure additional capital are seen as a move to maintain competitiveness and keep pace with other industry players, such as OpenAI, which is reportedly preparing to launch a new flagship LLM called GPT-5. The potential funding could help Mistral AI make significant investments in new LLM development.
Source: Perplexity.ai
