Mistral AI Expands to Silicon Valley, Challenging US AI Giants

Mistral expands in Silicon Valley to compete with US rivals for AI staff

Mistral, Europe's most valuable artificial intelligence start-up, is ramping up its US expansion in an effort to compete with Silicon Valley rivals for AI talent. Paris-based Mistral is building out an office in Palo Alto, California, as it looks beyond its European roots for engineers and scientists, as well as expanding its US sales team. One of Mistral's three co-founders, Guillaume Lample, is also weighing a potential move from Paris, according to two people familiar with the company's thinking. However, another person close to the company said no decision has yet been made. The company, valued at €6bn during a €600mn funding round in June, has been hailed by the likes of French President Emmanuel Macron as evidence that Europe can compete with the US and China in developing cutting-edge AI. Mistral's expansion in California follows in the footsteps of many promising European start-ups that have been drawn to the US for talent, capital and customers, which often prove easier to attract in the world's largest tech market. Striking a transatlantic balance may be trickier for Mistral, which has established itself as an alternative to the dominance of US AI companies by offering "sovereign AI" to customers in Europe and other parts of the world. It has increasingly fallen into the orbit of Silicon Valley, having been backed by venture firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and Big Tech groups including Microsoft and Nvidia. Mistral is hiring a team of AI scientists and engineers in California, as well as sales and administrative staff, according to public job listings. Currently, Mistral says it employs more than 100 people, with Paris still home to the largest proportion of employees. It has around 20 staff in the Bay Area, according to staff listings on LinkedIn and a person close to the company, most of whom joined in the past six months. Mistral's new outpost lays down a challenge to rival generative AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic in the highly competitive war for talent raging in the sector. In April, Majorie Janiewicz joined the company as its first US general manager and global head of revenue. The French company, which is still less than two years old, has sought to make efficiency its chief differentiator against its better-funded US rivals, arguing that it builds its AI models more cheaply. Nonetheless, AI has become a highly capital-intensive industry, and alongside powerful chips, top researchers and engineers are the hottest and most expensive commodities. Staff from fast-growing start-ups such as Adept, Inflection and Character AI have been hired by Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet respectively, with the Big Tech companies willing to pay billions of dollars in deals designed to absorb the best staff from the fledgling companies while stopping short of full takeovers. Other leaders in the field are launching their own start-ups. Early employees at OpenAI, including former chief technology officer Mira Murati and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, have left to launch their own businesses. Meanwhile, OpenAI itself recently opened an office in Paris, where Meta already has a significant AI lab. Mistral's own founding team previously worked at Meta and Google's DeepMind. The company develops open-source AI models, allowing businesses and developers to access and customise them to suit their applications and needs. Mistral said it was "continuing to reinforce its presence and commitments to growth in the US to offer American customers full control, privacy and portability in their AI journey". "To achieve it, Mistral has opened an office in Palo Alto and supported an executive presence on the ground . . . Our founders are committed to support this development," the company added.

How French start-up Mistral AI is planning to take on Silicon Valley

Mistral AI, one of Europe's most valuable AI companies, is reportedly making plans to build a base in the US, having already started working on a Palo Alto office. European artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, Mistral AI, is reportedly planning to expand into the US, according to The Financial Times. Currently based in Paris, the start-up is working on an office in Palo Alto, in California. The move suggests its ambition to expand in the US and in the global tech hub, Silicon Valley, as the company tries to hire better industry talent, including engineers, AI scientists, administrative and sales staff. Mistral AI is also reportedly contemplating moving away from the French capital, although no additional details have been shared yet. The company is one of Europe's most highly valued AI start-ups, providing sovereign AI to several European and global clients. It was worth approximately €6bn back in June this year and has been crucial in building Europe's domestic AI industry. This in turn, was expected to go a long way in helping reduce Europe's reliance on China and the US, when it comes to AI. Mistral AI has been financially supported by Magnificent Seven tech companies such as Nvidia and Microsoft, as well as by venture capital companies such as Andreessen Horowitz. At present, the company has over a 100 employees, with the majority of them still based in Paris, while 20 are in the US. The company is the latest in a long line of European companies looking to the US to expand, or list primarily in. This is mainly because of a wider range of investors, a deeper capital pool and higher liquidity. The US also has a more supportive regulatory environment when it comes to artificial intelligence and tech startups, than Europe, which can make the shift even more attractive for some companies. However, the artificial intelligence sector in the US has also become increasingly more competitive and hard to break into in recent years, as more AI companies such as OpenAI have been launched. Competition for staff from other cutting-edge AI companies such as Inflection and Adapt has also intensified, as Big Tech companies such as Microsoft and Amazon race to hire them. Although Mistral AI is still very young, at less than two years old, compared to other better-established AI companies in the US, it claims that its AI models cost less to build, while also being more efficient. Mistral AI recently joined forces with Microsoft and Capgemini, to boost the adoption of generative AI technologies, as well as expand Capgemini's Intelligent App Factory on Microsoft Azure. This tie-up is expected to focus on organisations and industries that need highly customised AI solutions. Arthur Mensch, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mistral AI, said in a press release on Capgemini's website: "We are looking forward to extending our collaboration with Microsoft and Capgemini to transform how businesses worldwide leverage generative AI technologies. "Our models, which offer unparalleled customisation and robust multilingual capabilities, combined with Microsoft's powerful cloud platform and Capgemini's deep industry insights and business transformation expertise, are essential for global organisations on their journey to AI adoption." Nick Parker, president of Industry and Partnerships at Microsoft, also said in the press release: "At Microsoft, our unwavering commitment is to empower every organisation to achieve more through the transformative power of AI. "Through this collaboration with Mistral AI and Capgemini, we will deliver innovative solutions that fully leverage the potential of Generative AI to enable business transformation and growth."

Mistral Reportedly Eyes US Expansion to Take on AI Giants | PYMNTS.com

Mistral is reportedly boosting its U.S. expansion to compete with Silicon Valley tech giants. The $6 billion French artificial intelligence (AI) startup -- the most valuable in Europe -- is building an office in Palo Alto as it looks to hire U.S.-based engineers and scientists, as well as expanding its U.S. sales team, the Financial Times (FT) reported Tuesday (Nov. 26). And Guillaume Lample, one of the company's three co-founders, is considering a move from Paris, two sources familiar with the company's thinking told the FT. (A third source said no decisions have been made.) As the FT notes, Mistral has been touted by French President Emmanuel Macron as a sign that Europe can compete with the U.S. and China in creating cutting-edge AI. Many other European startups have already begun sourcing talent, funds and customers from the U.S., the world's biggest tech market. "At the heart of Mistral AI's success lies its strategic approach to AI development, which strikes a balance between open-source sharing and proprietary innovation," PYMNTS wrote earlier this year when the company reached its $6 billion valuation. "By releasing models like Mistral 7B and Mistral 8x22B under the Apache 2.0 license, the company encourages collaboration and accelerates the collective progress of AI research." The company's proprietary models, such as Mistral Large and Codestral, are poised to fuel commercial applications across industries. Businesses can employ these AI solutions through APIs, opening up new opportunities for efficiency, automation and personalization. But the FT report argues that Mistral may have a tougher time striking a "transatlantic balance," as the company has billed itself as an alternative to the prevalence of American AI companies by offering "sovereign AI" to users in Europe and other parts of the globe. At the same time, the company has won the backing of venture capital groups like Andreessen Horowitz as well as tech giants such as Microsoft and Nvidia. According to the report, Mistral is hiring a team of AI scientists and engineers in California, as well as sales and administrative staff. The company currently has more than 100 employees, most of whom are based in Paris. Sources told the FT the company has around 20 workers in the Bay Area, most of whom joined Mistral in the last six months.