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When Daniel Ek is not busy Health technology companyHe made massive bets on the future of European war, apparently.
The billionaire, who lives mainly in Stockholm, has just conducted an investment of 600 million euros in Helsing, a four -year defense technology company, based in Munich, which is now assessed at 12 billion eurosAccording to the Financial Times. The agreement makes it one of the most precious private companies in Europe; It also highlights the race of Europe to build its own military muscle as the world becomes more disorder and that the United States turns inward.
The figures help to tell the story. High Helsing $ 450 million A year ago a year ago; Now, it’s back with this even larger tour led by the EK investment company, Prima Materia. This is part of a wider defense technology boom that sees money flooding in businesses like the American giant Andendil, who has just raised it $ 2.5 billion Directed by Founders Fund, and manufacturers of European drones Quantum Systems and Tekever. (In recent weeks, they have announced 160 million euros And 70 million eurosRespectively, in rounds which put them both in territory supposedly unicorn.)
Techcrunch has contacted Helsing for more details on how he plans to use the new financing.
As for what Helsing does exactly, Wired said last year to consider it to transform modern war into something that looks more like a video gameExcept with very real consequences.
The main product of the company takes massive amounts of data from military sensors, radars and weapons systems, then uses AI to create intuitive and real -time visualizations of what is happening on the battlefield. Instead, soldiers make life or death decisions based on telephone calls and hand cards, everyone sees the same information, whether from a front line trench or a command center for miles.
But what started as AI software company has become much more ambitious. Helsing now builds his own drones and typing planes and said that he was working on a fleet of unmanned minins in order to Irmprove Naval Surveillance.
Timing is not a coincidence. Like American investor Eric Slesinger said to Techcrunch This spring, “European governments have waited too long to rethink what the arrangement of their own security meant.” The awakening came with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which clearly indicated that Europe could not count on American protection alone. The American elections at the end of last year of President Donald Trump – who is much more interested Advising American interests – has since ended a lot on things.
Now, European leaders are talking about spending big for defense while achieving strategic autonomy, which means their ability to manage their own security. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis recently summarized the movement in a Separate maintenance with Techcrunch: “We are going to spend a lot of money on defense as a European. The Defense Landscape changes, which will no longer be only planes, tanks – everything will be much more digital and focused on AI.”
A few years ago, this achievement was the impulse for the NATO Innovation FundThe world’s leading world capital fund supported by 24 NATO allies. But the Pool capital is only one of the many signs that Europe has seriously developed to build its own technological defense ecosystem rather than counting on the United States for protection.
EK, who invested for the first time in Helsing Back in 2021Before Ukraine’s war, may have seen for a while when the thing goes. As he said in a press release on Monday funding: “While Europe quickly strengthens its defense capacities in response to the evolution of geopolitical challenges, there is an urgent need for investment in advanced technologies that guarantee its strategic autonomy.”
The other investors of the new Helsing tour include the old donors Lightspeed Ventures, Accel, Plural, General Catalyst and Saab, and the new BDT & MSD Partners investors. The company has now collected a total of 1.37 billion euros.
