Microsoft Invests $16 Million in French AI Startup Mistral
Microsoft pours $16.3 million into Paris-based Mistral AI as part of a broader distribution partnership. The deal gives Azure users a new alternative to OpenAI's models and draws regulatory scrutiny from the European Commission.
Microsoft invests €15 million (roughly $16.3 million) into Paris-based AI startup Mistral AI as part of a newly announced distribution partnership. This funding acts as an extension to Mistral's previous Series A round, meaning the startup's $2 billion valuation remains unchanged. The tech giant's current investment converts to equity in Mistral's next funding round and gives Microsoft less than a 1% stake in the company.
Alongside this financial deal, Mistral AI launches Mistral Large, a proprietary flagship large language model designed to compete directly with OpenAI's GPT-4 and Anthropic's Claude 2. Through the new partnership, Azure customers access Mistral's models directly in the Azure model catalog. This move provides Microsoft cloud users with a powerful alternative to OpenAI's offerings while keeping them inside the Microsoft ecosystem.
This strategic investment makes Microsoft a financial backer of both OpenAI and Mistral AI at the same time. The deal immediately attracts attention from European regulators, as the European Commission states it will analyze the Microsoft-Mistral partnership as part of its ongoing scrutiny of major tech platforms. Regulators currently examine Microsoft's close ties to OpenAI, and this new AI partnership adds another layer to their ongoing investigation.