Mistral CEO confirms plans for IPO and Singapore expansion amid AI system focus

Arthur Mensch, co-founder and CEO of French AI lab Mistral, revealed plans for an initial public offering and an overseas expansion.

Mensch shared the plans during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He also announced the company’s upcoming office in Singapore, signaling a push into the Asia-Pacific market. 

“Of course, [an IPO is] the plan,” Mensch said, emphasizing that Mistral is “not for sale.”

Founded in 2023 by former researchers from Google’s DeepMind and Meta, Mistral is considered Europe’s leading competitor to US-based AI companies like OpenAI. The firm has developed several open-source large language models and a ChatGPT-like platform called Le Chat. 

Backed by investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mistral has raised approximately US$1.14 billion and was last valued at US$6 billion.

Looking ahead, Mensch sees the AI industry shifting this year from focusing on large language models to integrated AI systems. 

“Models are a part of systems, but systems are connected to data, connected to tools, able to actually do things on your behalf,” Mensch told CNBC

These systems, he explained, could enable businesses to integrate their expertise and contextual data into AI-driven solutions tailored to industry-specific needs.

Mensch highlighted the opportunity for AI systems to evolve into autonomous agents capable of acting with minimal supervision—an emerging trend in the sector.

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