French AI startup Mistral AI completed US$415 million in financing, led by a16z and others

French AI startup Mistral AI announced a financing of 385 million euros (415 million US dollars) with a valuation of 2 billion US dollars, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Ventures. The funds will be used for the development of its technology and open source software.
It is reported that Mistral AI focuses on generative AI tools, chatbot development, and customizable open source technology, with the goal of offering its products to the public in early 2024. The company is a new company formed by former researchers from DeepMind and Meta companies, and will attempt to compete with OpenAI and Google in developing generative AI infrastructure.