Mistral AI: Another Competitor That Could Compete With ChatGPT Maker Open AI A French company called Mistral AI has entered the market, which is seen as a potential competitor to OpenAI. The company is one of the most promising technology startups in France. However, its global market share is relatively small.
Mistral AI was launched in 2023. It has stated that its main goal is to ‘bring frontier AI into the hands of everyone’. The company advocates openness in the field of AI.
Le Chat is available on the iOS and Android mobile app stores. Within two weeks of its release on mobile, the app had surpassed one million downloads. In France, the app, which reached the top spot for free downloads on the iOS app store, was even encouraged to download by President Emmanuel Macron.
Mistral AI also has other AI models. These include the main large language model – Mistral Large 2, the multimodal model – Pixtral Large, generative AI for code – Codestral, optimized for small devices like phones – Les Ministraux, and Mistral Saba, focused on the Arabic language. In March 2025, the company launched an API called Mistral OCR, which helps convert PDF files into text.
Arthur worked at Google DeepMind, while Timothy and Guillaume Meta are former Meta employees.
Not all of the company’s models are open source. Some of its key models are not open for commercial use. However, access to the free models is provided under the Apache 2.0 license. It open-sourced a research model called Mistral NeMo in July 2024 in collaboration with Nvidia.
Its premier models are sold as APIs, where fees are charged based on usage. The company also earns revenue from its strategic partners. The company’s current revenue is reported to be in the eight-digit million range.
The company has made several significant partnerships. The deal with Microsoft in February 2024 included plans to distribute Mistral models through the Azure platform and an investment of 15 million euros (about 16.3 million dollars). Other partners include news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), the French military and employment agency, the shipping company CMA, German defense technology startup Helsing, IBM, Orange, and Stellantis.
In June 2024, the company raised 600 million euros (about $640 million), bringing its valuation to $6 billion.
In January, CEO Arthur Mensch said the company was planning an IPO. Despite raising significant capital and developing significant products and partnerships, Mistral AI faces challenges competing with established companies like Open AI. It also describes itself as the “world’s greenest and leading independent AI lab.” The company faces a challenge in maintaining that.
