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European defense technology startup Helsing is currently negotiating to boost nearly $500 million from Silicon Valley investors including Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company is currently valued at $4.5 billion, tripling its value in lower than a yr as global conflicts have sparked a wave of personal investment in defense suppliers.
Accel and Lightspeed will probably be recent investors in Helsing, people aware of the talks said, and General Catalyst, an existing backer, is prone to join the round.
The deal would make Munich-based Helsing one of the vital worthwhile artificial intelligence startups in Europe and could be a robust signal of growing interest in defense technology firms from traditional enterprise capitalists. Accel, an early backer of Facebook and Spotify, has never invested in a defense technology company before.
Helsing and Lightspeed declined to comment. Accel and General Catalyst didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Founded in 2021, Helsing focuses on AI-based software for defense. The company uses AI to process massive amounts of knowledge generated by sensors and weapon systems to supply real-time battlefield intelligence and assist the military in decision-making. The company's software can be getting used to develop AI capabilities for drones in Ukraine.
Helsing's last funding round, announced in September, raised 209 million euros, giving it a valuation of about 1.5 billion euros including the newly raised funds. The recent round being discussed would value the corporate at $5 billion, including the brand new capital, people aware of the talks said.
The prize puts Helsing amongst Europe's highest-valued private technology firms, alongside Paris-based Mistral, an AI start-up that raised €600 million earlier this month at a valuation of nearly €6 billion.
Venture capitalists have long been reluctant to speculate in defense technology firms, but that’s changing rapidly within the US and Europe as tensions between the US and China and Russia's war in Ukraine have led to a rise in nation-state defense spending.
This yr, NATO began investing its recent €1 billion “innovation fund” in European technology firms. Andrea Traversone, the fund's managing partner, told the Financial Times earlier this month that Europe was catching up “in a short time” with US investments in defence and dual-use technologies.
The war in Ukraine has underscored that modern warfare is shifting from using traditional hardware akin to tanks, rifles and ammunition to software-defined technologies that enable troops to outsmart the enemy.
Helsing has signed partnership agreements with a few of Europe's established defense firms, including Rheinmetall and Saab, to integrate AI into existing platforms akin to fighter jets. The startup can be working with Airbus on AI technologies to be utilized in manned and unmanned systems.
The company received funding from Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek's investment company Prima Materia, which backed Helsing with €100 million in 2021 at a valuation of just over €400 million.
Helsing is seen by some as Europe's answer to Anduril, the California-based defense technology startup that may close a $1.5 billion funding round next month. Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Virginia-based Sands Capital will co-lead that investment, valuing the seven-year-old company at $12.5 billion, two people aware of the matter said. Anduril declined to comment.
Anduril, which incorporates Lightspeed amongst its backers, makes autonomous weapons and defense systems akin to drones, missile launchers and submarines and is a growing supplier to the U.S. military. It is co-founded by 31-year-old entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, whose previous startup, Oculus VR, was bought by Facebook for $2 billion in 2014.
