Orrick Advises Mistral AI in its €1.7B Series C Funding Round

2 minute read | September.16.2025

Français: Orrick conseille Mistral AI dans le cadre de sa levée de fonds de 1,7Md€ en Série C

Mistral AI raised €1.7 billion in its latest Series C round, reaching a post-investment valuation of €11.7 billion. Orrick represented Mistral AI.

The round was led by ASML, the Dutch microelectronics equipment manufacturer, with an investment of €1.3 billion, alongside existing investors DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, BPI France, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Lightspeed and Nvidia.

Our team has advised Mistral AI since its founding, including on its €105 million seed round in June 2023, its €385 million Series A round in December 2023, and its €600 million Series B round in June 2024.

THE COMPANY

Mistral AI is a French artificial intelligence startup headquartered in Paris founded in 2023 by Arthur Mensch, Guillaume Lample, and Timothée Lacroix. The company develops advanced large language models and the AI chatbot Le Chat, offering both open-source and proprietary models.

THE IMPACT

With this funding round and astrategic partnership led by ASML, Mistral AI is strengthening its position as a leading independent AI innovator, dedicated to democratizing access to advanced AI and driving breakthroughs in highly complex industries worldwide.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among others, reported on this investment.

THE TEAM

The team was led by Benjamin Cichostepski and included Julia Apostle, Cécile Mariotti, Johann Jabes, Mayeul Lelièvre, Baptiste Tanchoux, Théophile Delobel and Jean-Gabriel Javier Caraballo.

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Related Lawyers

Benjamin Cichostepski-Lesage Partner, Technology Companies Group, Mergers & Acquisitions

Paris; Paris Tech Studio

See my bio

D:+33 1 5353 7500
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology & Innovation Sector
Technology Companies Group
Mergers & Acquisitions

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Benjamin Cichostepski-Lesage Partner

Paris; Paris Tech Studio

Ben is the founding partner of Orrick's French Tech Companies Group. For more than 15 years, he has been advising high-potential innovative companies as well as venture and tech growth investors on all their corporate private equity and M&A transactions in France and globally.

As such, he is involved in every stage of their development, from incubation and fundraising to external growth and industrial exits as well as public offerings (IPO, secondary).

Ben has significant experience advising French companies expanding into the United States, and assists them over the full lifecycle of their overseas growth. He also counts a number of American investors and buyers among his clients.

From his first venture deal in 2006, where he represented Lightspeed Venture Partners in Wikio’s Series A, which became Teads, a company he then accompanied for 11 years until its sale to Altice, Ben has led more than 350 corporate tech transactions. He has been involved in the main exit transactions in recent years, particularly those with a franco-american element such as Neolane/Adobe, La Fourchette/TripAdvisor, Stupeflix/GoPro, eNovance/Red Hat, Regaind/Apple, Zenly/Snap, Teads/Altice, Getaround/Drivy, Glose/Medium, Sqreen/Datadog, Lalilo/Renaissance Learning, Tempow/Google, Context/Integral Ad Science, Monk/ACV Auctions, Cajoo/Flink, Shipfix/Veson Nautical, Bereal/Voodoo.

Ben's leadership has contributed to placing Orrick as the #1 Venture Capital and Tech Growth practice in France (ranked #1 by Pitchbook in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021 - CF News in 2024, 2023, 2022).

Recognized as a key lawyer in the market in venture capital and tech growth, Ben was ranked No. 1 in the "Top 10 Influential French Venture Capital Lawyers in Private Equity 2023" by Business Today. He was named "Lawyer of the Year" in the 2026 and 2023 editions of Best Lawyers France in the Venture Capital category. He is also ranked as a Leading Individual by The Legal 500 EMEA in Private Equity - Venture Capital/Growth Capital since 2020 and was voted as the most active tech lawyer in France in 2019 by transaction volume in CF News’ ranking.

Ben is the founder of Orrick Paris Tech Studio, a one of a kind office and working space created in June 2022 and located in the heart of the Paris Tech scene, which is the headquarters of Orrick's French Tech practice.

Julia Apostle Partner, Technology Transactions, Cyber, Privacy & Data Innovation

Paris

See my bio

D:+33153537500
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology Transactions
Cyber, Privacy & Data Innovation
Technology & Innovation
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Strategic Advisory & Government Enforcement (SAGE)

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Julia Apostle Partner

Paris

Julia counsels on compliance issues in relation to European and French tech and data regulations, including:

the GDPR;
the Digital Services Act;
the EU AI Act and the regulation of AI more generally,
the Data Act;
the Cyber Resilience Act;
the NIS2 Directive;

and other new and emerging legislation impacting online platforms, technology developers, and eCommerce businesses. She advises companies of all sizes on a wide range of compliance matters, ranging the drafting of internal policies, to assisting with regulatory investigations, product counseling and regulatory engagement.

In the context of strategic transactions covering significant and complex technological issues, she is involved in the drafting and negotiation of agreements relating to data transfer, IT, software, content and brand licensing.

Julia is deeply familiar with the commercial considerations’ clients face, having practiced in-house at Twitter, Financial Times and CBS for more than a decade prior to joining Orrick. Julia also teaches a course on AI contracts for the Master's program in AI Law at a leading French university and acts as a mentor for students.

Cécile Mariotti Partner, Steuern, Mergers & Acquisitions

Paris

See my bio

D:+33 1 5353 8180
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Steuern
Mergers & Acquisitions
Private Equity

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Cécile Mariotti Partner

Paris

She has significant experience in both French and international tax matters and regularly advises on complex mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, capital markets, and financing transactions.

Cécile works with French and international corporate groups across various sectors, both public and private, as well as financial institutions and investment funds. She also represents clients in their dealings with tax authorities, including ruling requests and tax litigation. Additionally, she assists in the structuring and implementation of employee stock offerings and management packages.

Cécile teaches a seminar on the tax aspects of LBOs as part of the Master in International Taxation program jointly offered by Paris II Panthéon-Assas University and HEC. She is a member of the International Fiscal Association (IFA) and the Institut des Avocats Conseils Fiscaux (IACF), where she served on the Corporate Tax Committee until October 2020. She is also a member of the Tax Committee of France Invest and has been appointed as a rapporteur for France at the IFA Congress in Lisbon in 2025.

In addition, Cécile serves on the board of the Alliance for the Financing of Femtech in France. She maintains an active pro bono practice in the tech sector and is strongly committed to initiatives and networks that support the long-term success of women leaders in business. Notably, she served as co-leader of the Women Enriching Business Committee in Paris at Latham & Watkins.

Before joining Orrick, Cécile spent four years in the tax team at Latham & Watkins, following seven years in the tax team at Cleary Gottlieb, working in both the Paris and New York offices.