The engineers driving the $18 billion valuation
JPMorgan Chase, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Iconiq invested $1.8 billion in Helsing in July 2026, which pushed the company valuation to $18 billion. Torsten Reil, Gundbert Scherf, and Niklas Kohler founded the Munich-based firm in March 2021 to apply machine learning to military sensor data. Reil, a computational biologist, previously ran the gaming company NaturalMotion, while Scherf worked for the German Ministry of Defence. Niklas Kohler previously ran the deep learning company Hellsicht, which Helsing folded into its own operations in 2017. The company also acquired the reinforcement learning specialist Design AI in 2022. Daniel Ek, the Spotify founder, leads the company’s investment through Prima Materia and chairs the board. This funding follows a series of rounds that brought total capital raised to $1.37 billion. Earlier funding included €209 million in September 2023 and €450 million in July 2024, when the company reached a €5 billion valuation. During that time, Saab and General Catalyst held significant interests in the startup. You should know that these financial movements follow years of development in AI-native hardware. Helsing integrated its AI into the Eurofighter Typhoon EK onboard system and upgraded the radar system of the Saab JAS 39 Gripen. In 2025, the company collaborated with Mistral AI to create vision-language-action models and partnered with Airbus to develop the Wingman AI system. The company launched Area 9, an incubator division for moonshot projects, in January 2025.
Reliability problems on the Ukrainian front
A November 2025 presentation from the German Ministry of Defence indicates that 40% of the HF-1 drone shipments sent to Ukraine remained in inventory. While Helsing promised a transition from the plywood-bodied HF-1 to the more advanced HX-2, testing by Ukraine’s 14th Regiment revealed that only 25% of HX-2 drones launched successfully. The drones also lacked the terminal guidance, midcourse guidance, and visual target acquisition AI components promised in the initial contract. Bloomberg News reported in April 2025 that former employees and military experts raised concerns regarding overpriced hardware and software glitches. These reliability issues undercut the demand for the X-wing style drones that combine fixed wings with quadcopter propellers. While the company maintains that its HX-2 drones perform well under electronic warfare conditions, the German Ministry of Defence presentation suggests that the hardware frequently failed to meet the operational requirements of frontline units in Ukraine. This performance gap contrasts with the precision rates reported by defense analysts, who claim the drones use computer vision to achieve over 90% accuracy. The HF-1, a cheaper version with a plywood fuselage, uses the Altra software to combine data feeds from multiple drones. This software identifies targets and provides targeting information for indirect fire weapons such as mortars and artillery. This capability allows the drones to bypass Russian electronic warfare domes by processing data locally on the device. Does the failure of these AI components in the field invalidate the rapid scaling of the company?
Autonomous flight and maritime surveillance
Helsing develops autonomous systems like the CA-1 Europa and the SG-1 Fathom underwater drone. The company acquired the German light aircraft manufacturer Grob Aircraft in June 2025 to integrate AI with aircraft manufacturing. The CA-1 Europa, an autonomous unmanned combat aerial vehicle weighing approximately 4 tonnes, carries up to 500 kg of weapons. It reaches high subsonic speeds and has an operational range between 1,400 and 1,800 kilometers. The aircraft uses the Centaur AI agent to function as an autonomous fighter pilot. It can operate independently or as part of a swarm. The first flight targets 2027, with service entry expected in 2029. The SG-1 Fathom drone, designed for maritime surveillance, uses the Lura AI system to process acoustic data. Each drone weighs 60 kg and can stay submerged for 90 days. It reaches speeds of 2 knots and descends to depths of 1,000 m. The drone glides by redistributing its internal weight instead of using propellers.
| Product | Type | Max Speed | Range | Payload |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HX-2 | Loitering Munition | 250 km/h | 100 km | 5 kg |
| CA-1 Europa | UCAV | High subsonic | 1,400-1,800 km | 500 kg |
| SG-1 Fathom | Underwater Drone | 2 knots | 90 days (submerged) | N/A |
Helsing acquired the Australian autonomous underwater vehicle developer Blue Ocean to integrate hardware with AI. In September 2025, the company partnered with ARX Robotics to develop networked reconnaissance and strike systems. The company uses the Cirra software for electronic warfare to assess threats in real time for the Eurofighter ECR. To test the Centaur AI agent, the company conducted Project Beyond in mid-2025, where a Gripen E engaged a human-operated Gripen D in a dogfight. Helsing partnered with Loft Orbital to deploy a multi-sensor satellite constellation for border surveillance and troop movement tracking.
