It’s Monday, September 8th: Welcome new chapters in Costa Rica and Kingston, get the quick hits on Mistral’s $1.7B raise and OpenAI’s chip move, and save the date for an exclusive Inside Summit panel.
Discover what’s happening at AI Collective chapters worldwide with our new Events Portal. Search by city, date, or format, and join thousands of builders at events across 25+ chapters and on every continent.
We’re also excited to welcome a few new chapters to the Collective…
Join the crew in San José this Tuesday for a kickoff and celebration at Arkkosoft.
The Collective’s Kingston chapter is launching with style. Kicking off at City Hall with leaders across industry, academia, and government, the new chapter is hosting engaging panels, networking, and group photos. Don’t miss it!
🌁 Based in SF? Check out SF IRL, MLOps SF, GenerativeAISF, or Cerebral Valley’s spreadsheet for more!
This Week’s AI News Roundup
What you need to know: weekly by AJ Green 🤝
MISTRAL Raises $1.7B 🌟 Europe’s Most Valuable AI Startup
News: French startup Mistral is now the most valuable AI company in Europe, climbing from stealth mode in 2023 to a potential $10B valuation in 2025.
Details:
Founded in 2023, Mistral raised a record €105M seed round weeks after launching.
Followed by a €385M Series A and a €600M Series B, bringing its valuation near $6B.
Focused on open-access LLMs and EU data sovereignty, with backing from French and EU clients.
Reports now suggest Mistral is closing $1B at a $10B valuation, led by Abu Dhabi’s AI fund MGX and other global investors.
Why it matters: Mistral’s explosive growth and $14B valuation mark a pivotal moment for European AI. It’s a symbol of AI sovereignty. With open-source models aligned to GDPR, sovereign infrastructure like Mistral Compute, and a deep bench of ex-DeepMind and Meta talent, Mistral is proving Europe can lead in the AI race. Backed by sovereign wealth funds and top-tier VCs, it also highlights how AI is becoming critical infrastructure, attracting global capital while reinforcing regional autonomy.
🔥 OpenAI designing its own AI chip
Details:
The initiative focuses on minimizing OpenAI’s dependence on NVIDIA GPUs, which are currently essential for training and operating advanced models, such as GPT-5.
Broadcom’s CEO confirmed a massive $10B order — widely speculated to be from OpenAI — a move that could begin to shift the AI compute market away from NVIDIA’s chokehold.
These proprietary chips will serve OpenAI’s expanding suite of models and platforms, potentially reducing infrastructure overhead and accelerating innovation.
Why it matters: Like Google, Amazon, and Meta before them, OpenAI is joining the elite club of hyperscalers building purpose-specific chips to match their AI workloads. Custom silicon not only enhances performance per watt and dollar, but positions OpenAI to more tightly control its hardware stack—a strategic advantage in the escalating AI arms race.
🔥 Catch an Exclusive Panel at Inside Summit with Ash Kumra
Join AI Collective’s Ash Kumra at The Room Podcast (top 5% technology, Forbes 30U30) for an afternoon with today’s top AI builders at Inside Summit on Friday, September 19th.
This isn’t your dad’s tech conference. Hear directly from founders and executives at Gamma, Bolt.new, Vercel, Daydream, Airbyte, Greylock, General Catalyst, and more. Whether you’re a pre-Series A founder gearing up to fundraise or a builder looking to join the next breakout AI startup, this event is for you.
RSVP and secure your spot by using the link below.👇
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About Noah Frank
Noah is a founder, innovation strategist, policy researcher, and community builder at the edge of AI. His work blends governance, product strategy, and revenue design to keep transformative tech aligned with human progress.
About AJ Green
AJ Green is a founder, writer, VC scout, chairman, and respected community leader in the AI and startup space. A former athlete turned tech entrepreneur, AJ is on a mission to make AI the great equalizer scaling startups, connecting ecosystems, and turning disruption into opportunity.