French AI institute Mistral is working towards an initial public offering, co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch said in an interview with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday. .
Mistral is “not for sale,” Mensch said, adding that the company plans to open an office in Singapore to focus on the Asia-Pacific region and is also growing in Europe and the United States. [an IPO is] It's a plan. ”
Mistral, which Mensch launched in 2023 with former researchers at Google's DeepMind and Meta, is often described as Europe's answer to American incumbents like OpenAI. The lab has released AI models and services that compete with OpenAI and other products, including a ChatGPT-like platform called Le Chat.
Mistral has raised approximately $1.14 billion in funding to date from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company's final valuation was reportedly around $6 billion.