Mistral AI getting a big investment doesn't mean the European AI rules are suddenly cheap or light for every startup.
One success story doesn't make a whole regulatory framework viable; it just means one company managed to pull it off, likely with significant upfront capital.
This is like saying if one person can afford a luxury car, everyone can afford a car, ignoring the minimum cost for others.
You'd need to see many different kinds of businesses, especially smaller ones, find a low-cost way to comply before calling the system broadly successful.