Helsing

Helsing SE is a German defence technology company, founded in Munich in March 2021 by Torsten Reil, Gundbert Scherf and Niklas Köhler. It began as a software business: its systems fuse data from radars, cameras, electronic-warfare receivers and other sensors carried on aircraft, vehicles and ships, and turn that raw feed into a real-time picture an operator can act on. The company sells to governments rather than to commercial customers, and states that it will supply only democratic states.

Since 2024 Helsing has also designed and manufactured its own hardware. Its aerial products include the HF-1 and HX-2 loitering munitions, which navigate and strike using onboard AI and stored map data rather than GPS, and the CA-1 Europa, an uncrewed combat aircraft unveiled in September 2025 and being developed at the Grob Aircraft factory in Tussenhausen, with a first flight targeted for 2027 and entry into service for 2029. Underwater, the SG-1 Fathom glider carries the Lura acoustic-classification system and is designed to remain submerged for up to 90 days.

The software line comprises Altra, a reconnaissance-strike platform; Cirra, an electronic-warfare system integrated into the Eurofighter Typhoon EK; and Centaur, an autonomous flight agent that in 2025 was flown against a human-piloted Gripen in trials conducted with Saab. Helsing has partnered with Saab, Airbus, Mistral AI, Loft Orbital and ARX Robotics, and has bought three companies outright: Design AI in 2022, Grob Aircraft in June 2025 and the Australian underwater-vehicle developer Blue Ocean in October 2025.

The company has raised money in five priced rounds. Daniel Ek's investment vehicle Prima Materia led the Series A in November 2021 and the €600 million Series D in June 2025, which valued Helsing at €12 billion; General Catalyst led the Series B and Series C. In July 2026 Helsing raised US$1.8 billion at an $18 billion valuation in the largest funding round yet for a European defence-technology company, with participation from Dragoneer, Lightspeed, ICONIQ, JPMorganChase, CPP Investments and Goldman Sachs Alternatives, and said it remained predominantly European-owned.