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5h ago

Daniel Ek Backs Helsing with €600M for AI-Powered Defense Systems

Lifting Helsing’s valuation to €12 billion, the investment underscores Europe’s drive for strategic autonomy through advanced defense technologies.

A message reading "AI artificial intelligence," a keyboard and robot hands are seen in this illustration created on January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Overview

  • Helsing, a Munich-based defense tech firm, secured €600 million in a round led by Spotify cofounder Daniel Ek, bringing its total funding to €1.37 billion.
  • The new investors include BDT & MSD Partners alongside earlier backers Lightspeed Ventures, Accel, Plural, General Catalyst and Saab.
  • Helsing’s AI platform synthesizes data from military sensors and weapons systems into real-time battlefield visualizations and is expanding into strike drones, aircraft and unmanned mini submarines.
  • European governments are ramping up defense spending in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and perceived shifts in U.S. policy under President Trump to bolster their own security capabilities.
  • The creation of the NATO Innovation Fund and similar initiatives aims to foster a homegrown European defense tech ecosystem independent of U.S. support.