Swedish investment giant EQT is in talks to lead or co-lead French AI company Mistral’s Series D funding round, according to sources cited by Sifted. If completed, the deal would mark the first investment from EQT’s €5 billion Scaleup Europe Fund.
Mistral, founded in 2023 by former Google DeepMind and Meta AI researchers, has quickly become one of Europe’s most valuable AI startups. The company raised a €3.7 billion Series C at a €20.7 billion valuation in early 2026 and has been expanding its enterprise AI offerings.
The Scaleup Europe Fund, launched by EQT in late 2025, targets high-growth European technology companies. A Mistral investment would signal that the fund intends to compete with US-based late-stage investors for Europe’s most sought-after AI deals.
Mistral has been gaining ground against OpenAI and Anthropic, particularly in European enterprise markets where data sovereignty concerns favor homegrown providers. The company’s open-weight approach to AI models has also won favor with developers.
EQT declined to comment on the talks.
