SoftBank explores investment in France’s Mistral AI

SoftBank Group Corp. is considering investing in Mistral AI, a leading artificial intelligence start-up in Europe, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

SoftBank has shown interest in participating in Mistral’s next funding round, which could potentially value the company at over $2 billion. Discussions are ongoing, and no final agreement has been reached yet.

Mistral, founded in early 2023 by former engineers from Google’s DeepMind and Meta Platforms Inc., aims to challenge US dominance of AI.

In December, Mistral raised $415 million from investors, including Salesforce Inc. and Nvidia Corp., valuing the company at around $2 billion.

Microsoft Corp. recently announced a €15 million investment in Mistral and will offer the company’s latest model to Azure cloud services customers.

SoftBank has been focusing more on AI investments, with plans to compete with Nvidia in the chip market.

Arm Holdings Plc, a SoftBank-backed chip designer, has seen a significant increase in its share price since its IPO last year.