Today, Munich-based defence AI firm Helsing shared it has secured €209 million in Series B funding, solidifying its status as Europe's most well-funded defencetech startup and among the leading AI companies in the field.
The round is led by General Catalyst. Swedish group Saab is joining the round as a strategic investor, deepening the existing partnership.
This funding round follows a previous Series A (€102.5 million) led by Prima Materia, an investment company founded by Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO of Spotify.
Founded in 2021, Helsing develops AI-based capabilities to “protect our democracies”.
The company has been active in Ukraine since 2022, providing capabilities and technology for frontline operations, with personnel deployed on an ongoing basis.
A software-only approach and deep partnerships with industry have led to rapid market adoption across Europe.
In June 2023, the German government selected Helsing and its partner Saab to provide the new AI-enabled electronic warfare capabilities for the upcoming update of the Eurofighter. In August 2023, Helsing and its consortium partners won the contract to provide the AI backbone for the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme.
Torsten Reil, co-founder of Helsing shared:
“This funding round is a vote of confidence in Europe. General Catalyst’s commitment to global and European resilience perfectly fits our mission to help protect our democracies.
We founded Helsing because we believe that AI will be essential so that democracies can continue to defend their values.”
Gundbert Scherf, co-founder of Helsing asserts:
“Our recent traction shows that this belief is shared by governments and industry.
This funding round is further validation from a global top investor as well as leading prime and trusted partner Saab.”
Helsing’ places special responsibility on the ethical consideration of new technologies, in particular artificial intelligence. It takes an intentional approach to transparency, explainability and the effectiveness of the human in the loop.
The round is led by General Catalyst. Swedish group Saab is joining the round as a strategic investor, deepening the existing partnership.
“We believe Helsing is a category-defining software company that is fully aligned with our global resilience thesis – the need to modernise our most critical industries for today’s new world order”, said Paul Kwan, Managing Partner, General Catalyst.
This funding round follows a previous Series A (€102.5m) led by Prima Materia, an investment company founded by Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO of Spotify.
Helsing intends to use the new capital to grow further its businesses in France, Germany and the UK and deepen its investments in its core technology initiatives.
Lead image: Helsing. Photo: Uncredited.
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