Helsing raises $1.8B at $18B valuation in Europe's largest defense-tech round

Helsing, the Munich-based defense technology startup, has raised $1.8 billion in a Series E funding round that values the company at $18 billion. The round is the largest ever for a European defense-tech startup, and according to the company, it was oversubscribed — investor demand exceeded the amount Helsing chose to raise.

Who's backing the round

The round drew a mix of financial and strategic investors: Dragoneer Investment Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Disruptive, Iconiq, Goldman Sachs Alternatives' growth equity arm, JPMorganChase, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, General Catalyst, Plural, and Stepstone all participated, alongside existing backers Prima Materia, Accel, and Greenoaks. That roster — spanning US growth equity, sovereign-adjacent pension capital, and European venture firms — reflects how far defense technology has moved from a niche, government-only investment category toward mainstream venture and private equity portfolios.

What Helsing actually builds

Founded in 2021, Helsing started by supplying AI software that fuses sensor data — from drones, radar, satellites, and cameras — into a single real-time operational picture for military commanders. The company has since expanded into hardware, most notably the HX-2, a software-defined strike drone capable of engaging targets at ranges up to 100 kilometers. Helsing says the HX-2's onboard AI lets it continue identifying and engaging targets even when jammed or disconnected from a data link — a direct response to the electronic warfare tactics observed extensively in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The company has also moved into underwater surveillance systems, broadening its footprint beyond airborne platforms.

Why investors are moving fast

Helsing's fundraising trajectory illustrates how quickly capital has moved into European defense tech since 2022. The company has already secured a €270 million German government drone order and a separate €223 million contract for experimental combat software this year alone. Those government contracts, combined with NATO members' rising defense budgets, give investors a visible, near-term revenue path that most AI startups in other sectors can't match — a meaningful factor in why the round drew crossover interest from growth-equity and pension investors who don't typically write early-stage defense checks.

What the capital funds

Helsing says the new funding will accelerate integration of its AI platforms into the defense capabilities of what it describes as a growing roster of partner nations. Co-chairmen Daniel Ek — also the founder of Spotify — and former Airbus CEO Tom Enders lead the company's board, a pairing that signals Helsing's ambition to operate at both consumer-tech development speed and defense-industrial scale simultaneously. With an $18 billion valuation, Helsing now sits among the most highly valued privately held defense technology companies in the world, and this round is likely to accelerate similar fundraising activity across the broader European defense-tech sector, as first reported by Tech.eu.