French AI startup Mistral is in early talks to raise €3 billion at a €20 billion valuation, nearly doubling its value from last September, as European countries seek homegrown alternatives to U.S. AI labs.

What happened: Mistral AI is in early discussions to raise about €3 billion ($3.5 billion（約5600億円）), according to Bloomberg. The funding round would value the company at around €20 billion (about $23.15 billion（約3.7兆円）), compared with the €11.7 billion valuation from its Series C round last September.

Why it matters: Mistral has positioned itself as Europe's answer to American AI leaders by offering open-weights models that anyone can customize, and by partnering with French government bodies and European companies. The company has raised only about $4 billion（約6400億円） to date—a fraction of what OpenAI ($186 billion（約30兆円）) and Anthropic ($161.25 billion（約26兆円）) have secured—so fresh funding would signal investor confidence in a European alternative as countries distance themselves from American tech.

What to watch: The funding round is still in early discussions and Mistral has not confirmed the terms. The company is also setting up a data center near Paris as part of its strategy to position itself as a sovereign, European-based AI provider.