French startup Mistral has become Europe’s most valuable AI company after raising €1.7 billion in funding in September, giving it a market value of €11.7 billion. The relocate underscores the key role private equity is playing in the technology’s development, with AI set to remain a key growth driver in 2025.
Mistral AI, based in Paris, was founded in April 2023 by three researchers – Arthur Mensch, Guillaume Lample and Timothée Lacroix. They aim to develop advanced large-scale language models by combining open-source and proprietary solutions.
According to a report by the platform BestBrokers, 63 companies became “unicorns” in 2025, meaning they reached a market value of more than $1 billion. The combined market value of these companies as of September 18 was $103.7 billion. If the trfinish continues, the number of new unicorns could surpass last year’s tally of 85 companies, which would mark the return of positive trfinishs after a large drop from 502 new unicorns in 2021 to just 69 in 2023.
Startups at the top
According to the report, AI startups will lead in 2025, accounting for 27 percent of all new unicorns. Among the most prominent are: Thinking Machines Lab from the US with a market value of 12 billion dollars and Decart from San Francisco, founded in Israel, worth 3.21 billion dollars.
The segment of business technologies occupies 23.8 percent, led by Peregrine (USA) – 2.5 billion dollars, Supabase (USA) – 2 billion dollars and Tailscale (Canada) – 1.45 billion dollars. Sectors such as fintech (7.9%), robotics (6.3%) and healthcare (4.8%) are also active. In addition, 19 new unicorns (30.2%) come from other industries such as agritech, defense, aerospace and media, demonstrating the global diversity of innovation.
There are currently 1,287 unicorns in the world; the US holds half (714), while China has 156 and India has 68. Europe is led by the UK with 55 and Germany with 33. Silicon Valley remains the main hub with 196 startups valued at $1 billion or more.
“The unicorn market in 2025 is maturing – growth has slowed compared to the post-pandemic boom, but we are still seeing impressive innovation, particularly in the AI sector,” declared analyst Paul Hoffman of BestBrokers.com. “The US continues to dominate, but Europe and Asia are increasingly shaping the future of technology.”
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