Often, when people ask me how the venture and startup market is doing, I have to take a moment. The easy answer is that we’re seeing a downturn. The correct answer is more nuanced: There is indeed a downturn, but it is impacting some much more than others.
One example of this as clear as day is Mistral AI’s recent $113 million seed fundraise. The company, founded by three French white men, was started just four weeks ago and doesn’t even have a product yet. That round, which values the company at $260 million, is being hailed as Europe’s largest seed round to date.
Mistral AI’s fundraise is, in some ways, unique to this point in time. There is much frenzy around AI right now, and this round did see some U.S. and international investors participating, which you don’t often see happening for ma …
