Mistral is reportedly raising a €3bn Series D round at a valuation of around €20bn, sparking intense discussion across the European tech ecosystem. Last week, Sifted broke the news that the EU's €5bn Scaleup Fund, managed by EQT, is in talks to lead or co-lead the investment, marking a potential landmark moment for European growth capital.

This week on the Sifted podcast, senior reporter Daphné Leprince-Ringuet joins host Freya Pratty to analyze the Scaleup Fund's potential involvement and speculate on which other investors might join the deal. The conversation also explores Mistral's strategic pivot, as the French AI darling increasingly positions itself as Europe's answer to Palantir, shifting from pure model development toward applied enterprise solutions and government contracts.

This repositioning could significantly influence the pricing dynamics of the latest funding round, as investors reassess Mistral's long-term revenue potential against its capital-intensive foundation model roots. If completed, the deal would cement Mistral's status as the continent's most valuable AI startup and signal a maturing European tech ecosystem capable of producing global category leaders.