Mistral AI, a French startup, is making waves in the artificial intelligence (AI) space with its chat assistant Le Chat and suite of models, positioning itself as a competitor to OpenAI with a focus on openness and sustainability. Despite its $6 billion valuation, the company still faces challenges in competing with the likes of OpenAI, but its recent launch of Le Chat on mobile app stores has generated significant hype, particularly in its home country.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, even weighed in on the startup's potential, encouraging citizens to download Le Chat instead of ChatGPT by OpenAI. This wave of attention is encouraging, but Mistral AI still faces challenges in competing with OpenAI while maintaining its self-definition as "the world's greenest and leading independent AI lab."

Mistral AI was founded in 2023 with the ambition to "put frontier AI in the hands of everyone." Its founders, Arthur Mensch, Timothée Lacroix, and Guillaume Lample, share a background in AI research at major U.S. tech companies with significant operations in Paris. The company has raised significant amounts of funding, including a record $112 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and has since closed several equity financing rounds, raising around €1 billion in capital to date.

The company's suite of models includes Mistral Large 2, Pixtral Large, Codestral, "Les Ministraux," and Mistral Saba, which are designed to be more open and accessible than those offered by OpenAI. While not all of Mistral AI's models are open source, the company provides weight access under the Apache 2.0 license for its free models, including research models such as Mistral NeMo, which was built in collaboration with Nvidia.

Mistral AI plans to drive revenue from Le Chat's paid tiers, with a Pro plan priced at $14.99 a month, as well as from its premier models through APIs with usage-based pricing. The company has also secured strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Agence France-Presse (AFP), France's army and job agency, German defense tech startup Helsing, IBM, Orange, and Stellantis, which are likely to generate significant revenue.

Despite its significant funding and partnerships, Mistral AI's revenue is reportedly still in the eight-digit range, according to multiple sources. The company's valuation is likely to be a topic of discussion in the future, with some speculating about a potential exit. However, CEO Arthur Mensch has stated that Mistral AI is "not for sale" and that an initial public offering (IPO) is the plan.

As Mistral AI continues to grow and expand its offerings, it will be interesting to see how it competes with OpenAI and other players in the AI space. With its focus on openness, sustainability, and independence, Mistral AI is positioning itself as a unique player in the market, and its success could have significant implications for the future of AI development.

For now, Mistral AI remains a company to watch, with its innovative approach and significant funding setting it up for potential success in the competitive AI landscape. As the company continues to scale its revenue and expand its offerings, it will be interesting to see how it navigates the challenges and opportunities ahead.