Helsing, a Munich-based company specialising in the creation of AI-powered military solutions and components, has raised €450 million led by General Catalyst. The total amount of company’s funding is currently over $760 million. The fresh investment aims to strengthen European defence capabilities.

About Helsing:

  • Co-founded by Niklas Köhler, Torsten Reil, and Gundbert Scherf in 2021, Helsing develops a platform uses AI to analyze live data and improve the decision-making for defense, intelligence, and national security systems. The company employs 250 people. In September 2023, it raised a €209 million Series B  funding round led by General Catalyst, following a €103 million Series A fundraise led by Daniel Ek and Shakil Khan’s investment firm Prima Materia in November 2021.
Image by Helsing:
Project Centaur, Helsing’s large-scale AI initiative to develop autonomous air combat capabilities
  • Helsing has been active in Ukraine since 2022 and recently established the Defence Manufacturers Alliance, a joint initiative with the Ukrainian government. Since its founding, the company has secured a series of government contracts, including the German Eurofighter Electronic Warfare upgrade, the AI infrastructure for the Future Combat Air System, and a number of classified contracts in the maritime and land domain.

The fresh Series C round:

  • General Catalyst, the leading investor in the round, was founded in 2000 in San Francisco. The firm prefers to make investments in companies operating in consumer, enterprise, fintech, crypto, and health assurance sectors
  • Elad Gil, an entrepreneur and investor from US, Accel, a global venture capital firm, Saab, a Stokholm-based defence and security company, Lightspeed, an US-based multi-stage venture capital firm, Plural, the Tallinn-based VC firm focusing on early-stage rounds between €1 million and €10 million, and Greenoaks, an investment firm based in San Francisco, also joined the investment.

European security is at a crossroads and Helsing will play a significant role in giving democratic societies the ability to deter and defend. But speed is of the essence. This new funding round allows us to further up the tempo and invest in large-scale R&D and capabilities across all domains,

the company’s three founders said in a joint statement.

According to company, the funding will be used for product development and R&D, a particular focus will be on bolster its work in the Baltics, as russia’s war in Ukraine goes on.