Helsing said investor demand significantly exceeded the available allocation and that the company remains predominantly European-owned following the raise. The latest round lifts Helsing’s valuation from a reported €12 billion in June 2025. Defense technology has become one of the fastest-growing areas of venture capital funding, driven by rising military budgets worldwide and in Europe in particular.
The funding follows a string of large European raises. This month, German defense-tech firm Quantum Systems raised $1.2 billion at an $8 billion valuation. The United Kingdom’s Kraken Technology, which makes autonomous vessels, raised $175 million this month in a Series B round valuing it at $1 billion. German unmanned-systems maker Stark raised €500 million in June, roughly $570 million, at a reported €3.2 billion valuation. Finland’s ICEYE raised €450 million in a Series F round last month, while French startup Harmattan AI raised $200 million in January in a Series B round led by Dassault Aviation, becoming the country’s first defense unicorn.
Helsing said the round included new and existing investors, among them Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst. Existing backers include Prima Materia, Accel and Greenoaks. The company was founded only in 2021, and its valuation now places it among Europe’s most valuable defense companies.
The firm’s offering includes the HX-2 strike drone and the Altra AI-enabled battlefield-operations software, along with concepts such as the proposed CA-1 autonomous fighter jet. Helsing works with Rheinmetall, Kongsberg and Saab to implement its AI solutions. The company’s board remains unchanged, with Daniel Ek and Tom Enders as co-chairmen, members Jeannette zu Fürstenberg and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Gen. Denis Mercier, and co-founders Gundberg Scherf, Niklas Köhler and Torsten Reil.
Helsing said the investment will accelerate its mission to develop and integrate entirely new AI platforms into the defense capabilities of its growing number of partner nations. The company added that investor demand reflected strong and growing confidence in AI-driven and software-defined defense technology.
The company did not specify further milestones or timelines beyond its stated intent to expand its AI platforms across partner nations.
