Helsing, a Munich-based defense technology startup, has raised $1.8 billion in what is being described as Europe's largest defense AI funding round. The deal values the company at $18 billion.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Bergen, the financing was a Series E round backed by investors including Dragoneer and Iconiq, among others. The company said demand from investors ran well ahead of what was on offer. According to CNBC, Helsing stated that "investor demand significantly exceeded the available allocation" for the round.
CNBC frames Helsing as Europe's answer to Anduril, the U.S. defense tech firm building AI-driven military systems. The Tech Buzz, via Google News, similarly characterized the raise as "Europe's biggest defense AI bet."
The funding lands against a backdrop of real government spending. Bloomberg reports that Germany placed a €270 million order with Helsing this year, a sign that the company's technology is already moving from pitch decks into national defense procurement.
The scale of the round, and the crowd of growth investors chasing it, points to how sharply appetite for defense technology has shifted. Money that once flowed largely to consumer apps and enterprise software is increasingly backing companies building AI for the battlefield, particularly in Europe as governments there rethink military readiness.
Why it matters: A raise this large signals that AI-powered defense has become one of the most closely watched — and heavily funded — corners of European technology, with private capital and national governments now betting on the same companies.