Analysis

February 12, 2026

How Mistral bounced back

Amid tensions with Trump, the French AI startup is winning big from Europe’s tech sovereignty push


A market rout caused by Chinese startup DeepSeek raised questions over Mistral's future

One year ago, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek sent investors into a frenzy with the release of its high-performing chatbot R1.

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Daphné Leprince-Ringuet

Daphné Leprince-Ringuet is a senior reporter for Sifted, based in Paris. She covers French tech and writes Sifted's AI and Deeptech newsletter . You can find her on X and LinkedIn

Martin Coulter

Martin Coulter is Sifted's news editor, based in London. You can follow him on LinkedIn and X

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