Mistral gagnant?

Just to follow up on the numerous exchanges I had about the NASDAQ yesterday and why Europe won't participate (not to mention win!) in the AI race:

Take Mistral, the now (hopefully) famous French rock-star AI startup. They are still legally registered in France and, on paper, 75% controlled by its founding team. But who’s actually put in the most money so far, and who steers Mistral’s strategic direction today?

Glad you ask:

• June 2023 (€105M): Lightspeed Venture Partners (🇺🇸), Eric Schmidt (🇺🇸), Xavier Niel (🇫🇷), Rodolphe Saadé (🇫🇷), and Bpifrance the 🇫🇷 public investment bank.
• December 2023 (€385M): Andreessen Horowitz (🇺🇸), Salesforce (🇺🇸), Nvidia (🇺🇸), BNP Paribas (🇫🇷).
• June 2024 (€600M): General Catalyst (🇺🇸), Lightspeed (🇺🇸), Andreessen Horowitz (🇺🇸), Nvidia (🇺🇸), Samsung Ventures, Salesforce Ventures (🇰🇷), Microsoft (🇺🇸) and IBM (🇺🇸).

Now, where are the French funds in these latest rounds?

Exactly — they simply can’t keep up.

Bonus question: to keep up their momentum, where will the Mistral team eventually need to go?