Berlin — AI defense company Helsing announ­ced that it has raised €209 million in a Series B funding round led by Gene­ral Cata­lyst. The Swedish Saab Group is also parti­ci­pa­ting in the round as a stra­te­gic inves­tor, thus deepe­ning the exis­ting partnership.

Foun­ded in 2021, the Munich-based company is a new breed of defense contrac­tor deve­lo­ping AI-based capa­bi­li­ties to protect demo­cra­cies. Helsing’s pure soft­­ware-based approach and close part­ner­ship with the indus­try have led to rapid market adop­tion across Europe. In June 2023, the German govern­ment selec­ted Helsing and its part­ner Saab to deli­ver the new AI-enab­­led elec­tro­nic warfare capa­bi­li­ties for the upco­ming Euro­figh­ter update. In August 2023, Helsing and its consor­tium part­ners were tasked with provi­ding arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) deve­lo­p­ment infra­struc­ture for the Future Combat Air System (FCAS).

“This round of finan­cing is a vote of confi­dence in Europe,” said Tors­ten Reil, co-foun­­der of Helsing. “Gene­ral Catalyst’s commit­ment to global and Euro­pean resi­li­ence aligns with our mission to protect Euro­pean democracies.”

“We foun­ded Helsing because we believe AI will be essen­tial to conti­nue defen­ding demo­cra­tic values. Our recent contracts show that this belief is shared by govern­ments and indus­try. This round of funding is further vali­da­tion from a leading global inves­tor, as well as from our part­ner Saab,” added Dr. Gund­bert Scherf, co-foun­­der of Helsing (photo © helsing.ai).

Helsing places parti­cu­lar focus on the ethi­cal appli­ca­tion of new tech­no­lo­gies, espe­ci­ally arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence. The company takes a targe­ted approach to trans­pa­rency, explaina­bi­lity, and the effec­ti­ve­ness of “human in the loop.” To ensure tech­ni­cal excel­lence and diverse thin­king, Helsing recruits employees from a variety of back­grounds and encou­ra­ges criti­cal thin­king and feed­back from its teams.

“We believe Helsing is an indus­­try-shaping soft­ware company that is fully aligned with our global resi­li­ence thesis — the need to moder­nize our major indus­tries for the powerful chan­ges in the world,” said Paul Kwan, Mana­ging Part­ner, Gene­ral Cata­lyst.

Helsing’s mission to protect demo­cra­cies places parti­cu­lar focus on the ethi­cal appli­ca­tion of new tech­no­lo­gies, espe­ci­ally arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence. The company takes a targe­ted approach to trans­pa­rency, explaina­bi­lity, and the effec­ti­ve­ness of “human in the loop.”

Consul­tant Helsing: YPOG
Team: Dr. Benja­min Ullrich (Lead, Tran­sac­tions), Part­ner, Berlin Dr. Bene­dikt Flöter (IP/IT), Asso­cia­ted Part­ner, Berlin Tobias Lovett (Lead, Tran­sac­tions), Senior Asso­ciate, Berlin Dr. Chris­toph Cordes (IP/IT), Asso­ciate, Berlin; Farina Weber (Corpo­rate), Asso­ciate, Berlin

About Helsing

Helsing is a key tech­no­logy and soft­ware company of the latest gene­ra­tion. In focus: criti­cal AI capa­bi­li­ties for secu­rity and defense. Helsing was foun­ded as an owner-mana­­ged tech­no­logy company to pursue the exclu­sive busi­ness purpose of deve­lo­ping and deploy­ing AI capa­bi­li­ties in the secu­rity sector. It is Helsing’s claim, as a Euro­pean tech­no­logy pioneer, to enable demo­cra­tic socie­ties to make sove­reign decis­i­ons and enforce their own ethi­cal standards.

About YPOG
YPOG is a specia­list tax and commer­cial law firm opera­ting in the core areas of Funds, Tax, Banking & Finance and Tran­sac­tions. The YPOG team advi­ses a wide variety of clients. These include emer­ging tech­no­logy compa­nies and family-run medium-sized enter­pri­ses as well as corpo­ra­ti­ons and private equity/venture capi­tal funds. YPOG is one of the leading addres­ses for venture capi­tal, private equity and fund struc­tu­ring in Germany. www.ypog.law