Comment by rvz
Comment by rvz 21 hours ago
All thanks to the US VCs that acutally have money to fund Mistral's entire business.
Had they gone to the EU, Mistral would have gotten a miniscule grant from the EU to train their AI models.
Comment by rvz 21 hours ago
All thanks to the US VCs that acutally have money to fund Mistral's entire business.
Had they gone to the EU, Mistral would have gotten a miniscule grant from the EU to train their AI models.
I mean, one is a government, the other are VCs (also, I would be shocked if there isn't some French gov funding somewhere in the massive mistral pile).
> I would be shocked if there isn't some French gov funding somewhere in the massive mistral pile
There is a bit of it, yes, although how much exactly is difficult to know. It’s not all tax breaks and subventions; several public agencies are using it, including in the army so finding out the details is not trivial.
1. It matters.
2. Did ASML invest in Mistral in their first round of venture funding or was it US VCs all along that took that early risk and backed them from the very start?
Risk aversion is in the DNA and in almost every plot of land in Europe such that US VCs saw something in Mistral before even the european giants like ASML did.
ASML would have passed on Mistral from the start and Mistral would have instead begged to the EU for a grant.
> and people with too much money?
No. VC’s historical capital has come from institutional investors. Pensions. Endowments. Foundations.
Mistral biggest investor is asml, although it became so later than other vcs