Spotify’s Daniel Ek has a big bet on Helsing, a European defence technology darling
When Daniel Ek isn’t busy, run Spotify and build his new AI-driven version Health Technology Enterprisehe appears to be making a massive bet on the future of European wars.
The billionaire, who lives primarily in Stockholm, has just led a €600 million investment in Helsing, a now-received Munich-based four-year-old defense technology company. 12 billion eurosaccording to the Financial Times. The agreement makes it one of Europe’s most valuable private companies. It also highlights European scramblings to build European military muscle as the world becomes more troubling and the US becomes inwards.
Numbers help you talk. Hellsing has risen $450 million Just a year ago, he was shy. Now we’re back in this even bigger round led by EK investment company Prima Materia. This is part of a wider defense technology boom that sees businesses like US giant Andrill flooding with money; $2.5 billion Founders Fund is led by European drone manufacturers Quantum Systems and Tekever. (In recent weeks, they announced 160 million euros and 70 million euroseach in a round where both of them are placed in the territory of the so-called unicorns. )
TechCrunch has contacted Helsing for more information on how to use the new funds.
To be precise, Helsing said last year he said he thought he would turn modern wars into something that looks like more video gameexcept for very realistic results.
The company’s main products capture vast amounts of data from military sensors, radar and weapons systems, and use AI to create intuitive, real-time visualizations of what’s going on on the battlefield. Instead of soldiers making life and death decisions based on phones and hand-drawn maps, everyone is looking at the same information from command centers a few miles away, whether it’s the frontline trench.
But what began as an AI software company has become far more ambitious. Helsing said he is currently building its own strike drones and aircraft, working on a fleet of unmanned mini-submarines to block naval surveillance.
The timing is no coincidence. As American investor Eric Thlesinger He told TechCrunch This spring, “the European government was waiting too long to reconsider what its security arrangements meant.” The wake-up call revealed that with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe cannot rely solely on American protection. President Donald Trump’s US election late last year – much more interesting Advance American interests – Since then, I’ve been giving more details about things.
Now, European leaders are talking about spending heavily on defense while achieving strategic autonomy. Greek Prime Minister Kiliakos Mitotakis recently Individual interviews with TechCrunch“As Europe, we’re going to spend a lot of money on defense. The defence landscape is changing. This is no longer about planes, tanks. All of this will be much more digital and AI-powered.”
A few years ago, it was realized NATO Innovation Fundthe world’s first multi-yoke venture capital fund supported by 24 NATO allies. However, the capital pool is just one of several signs that Europe is seriously committed to building its own defense technology ecosystem, rather than relying on the US for protection.
EK was the first to invest in Helsing Returning to 2021before the outbreak of the Ukrainian War, I probably watched for a while as things were heading. As he said in his Monday press release on fundraising, “As Europe rapidly strengthens its defense capabilities in response to evolving geopolitical challenges, there is an urgent need for investment in advanced technologies that ensure strategic autonomy.”
Other investors in Helsing’s new round include former backers LightSpeed Ventures, Accel, Multiple, General Catalyst, Saab, and new investors BDT & MSD Partners. The company is currently fully raising 1.37 billion euros.