Europe wants to compete with the US in AI — but the founders are making a costly mistake.

Billionaire Xavier Niel simply says: don’t sell early.

On one hand, he’s right — Mistral AI is now valued at €6 billion, and Poolside has received a valuation of $3 billion. The European AI scene is finally gaining momentum.

On the other hand, his advice sounds like a voice of reason that’s often missing: founders often take the first big check instead of playing the long game. Niel points out that if a big company offers X for your startup, they probably think it’s worth 2X or 3X. That number really stands out.

It’s no surprise — Niel himself has invested over $500 million into French AI and launched Kyutai with a former Google executive. He sees that Europe has the talent and mathematicians to make it work. The upcoming EU AI Act in August 2024 also plays into this — regulation often replaces chaos with order, favoring those ready to play by the rules.

But here’s the crux: he says there won’t be just one competitor, but hundreds. And that’s true. Europe can produce not just one AI champion, but several. The only question is whether founders will have the courage to trust their ideas.