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France's Mistral launches new app for Gen AI software

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Mistral says its AI chat responds at up to 1,000

words/second

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Says DeepSeek has benefited from its open source

technology

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Mistral CEO says IPO not planned in the short-term

By Florence Loeve

PARIS, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Nvidia ( NVDA )-backed French startup

Mistral AI rolled out a new app for its generative AI software

on Thursday, hot on the heels of last month's launch of a new AI

assistant by China's DeepSeek.

The little-known Chinese company rocked global markets by

showing it could go head-to-head with U.S. heavyweights in the

field, while charging much less.

Paris-based Mistral AI, founded two years ago, says its open

source Le Chat assistant is powered by the world's fastest

inference engines, responding with up to 1,000 words per second.

Its launch is well-timed, with a focus on alternatives to

OpenAI's ChatGPT and days before Paris hosts an AI summit.

"The French and the whole world are realising that European

players count and that they provide cutting-edge technology,"

Mistral AI CEO and co-founder Arthur Mensch told Reuters.

Mistral AI, which is reported to be valued at 5.8 billion

euros ($6.01 billion), won financial backing from AI chip leader

Nvidia ( NVDA ) and is often touted by French President Emmanuel

Macron.

Despite early success, it has been overshadowed by the

popularity of ChatGPT, which had 200 million weekly active

users, said OpenAI in August, compared with "several million

subscribers" regularly using Le Chat, Mensch said.

Mensch, 32, said he knows DeepSeek well and was not

surprised by its latest innovation. DeepSeek had benefited from

technology shared by Mistral via open source in 2023, he said.

"DeepSeek is something we've been waiting for," he said,

adding: "We are a company that builds products on open source

solutions. So whenever there is new open source technology, we

benefit from it."

Mensch highlighted a need for a European alternative to

Chinese and American offerings, saying that his ultimate goal

was to make AI "more open and more accessible to everyone".

"There is a cultural dimension to AI, and I think everyone

is starting to realise this. It's also about having European

champions, and that's why we created Mistral," he said.

Mistral's new chat assistant, previously only available on a

web browser, is the mainstream version of a product also being

offered to businesses.

The company says it has already signed partnerships with

"several dozen" large companies, including with French water and

waste management group Veolia.

Mistral AI also announced a partnership with the French jobs

agency earlier in the week and has more in the pipeline with

other European authorities, said Mensch.

However, that represents a fraction of the partnerships won

by U.S. heavyweights, who are also set to benefit from President

Donald Trump's Stargate project.

Mensch said Mistral AI, which has raised more than 1 billion

euros to date, was "very well-funded".

Commenting on speculation about an IPO, he said that it was

"not a short-term ambition at all".

($1 = 0.9651 euros)