Mistral founders become France's 1st AI billionaires
Big news from Paris: the founders of Mistral AI just became France's first AI billionaires after a recent funding round pushed their company's value to €11.7 billion ($13.7 billion).
Arthur Mensch, Timothee Lacroix, and Guillaume Lample each now has a net worth of about $1.1 billion based on their stake in the company—pretty wild for a startup that's only a few years old.
'We're not for sale,' says Mensch
Mistral just raised €1.7 billion in fresh funding, with big names like ASML backing them.
Their chatbot "Le Chat" is taking on giants like ChatGPT, and the company already has contracts worth €1.4 billion.
With offices in Paris, the US, London, Luxembourg, and Singapore, CEO Mensch says they're focused on keeping European AI strong and independent—he made it clear: "We're not for sale."