Swedish entrepreneur Daniel Ek, best known as the co-founder and CEO of Spotify—and perhaps as the real-life inspiration for Succession’s volatile tech mogul Lukas Matsson—has in recent years turned his attention, and immense fortune, toward Europe’s burgeoning defense sector. His latest move: leading a €600 million ($690 million) funding round in Helsing, one of Europe’s most promising defense tech startups.
Ek’s investment firm, Prima Materia, is heading Helsing’s Series D round, the startup announced yesterday (June 17). The funding also includes participation from major investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Accel, and Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab. The round values the Munich-based startup at approximately €12 billion ($13.8 billion).
Helsing, which develops advanced A.I.-powered hardware for military applications, has attracted increasing investor attention amid rising geopolitical tensions, particularly following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last year, the company raised €450 million ($518 million) in a Series C round. In 2021, Ek’s Prima Materia provided an initial €100 million ($115 million) investment.
“As Europe rapidly strengthens its defense capabilities in response to evolving geopolitical challenges, there is an urgent need for investments in advanced technologies that ensure its strategic autonomy and security readiness,” Ek said in a statement.
Ek co-founded Prima Materia in 2020 with Shakil Khan, an early Spotify investor. At the time, he pledged to commit €1 billion ($1.15 billion) of his personal wealth—estimated today at around $10 billion—toward ambitious European projects over the next decade. Among Prima Materia’s other investments are Epiterna, a longevity startup focused on extending life spans for humans and pets, and Neko Health, a full-body scanning health tech venture that Ek also co-founded.
Helsing made its name during the Russia-Ukraine war
Helsing was founded in 2021 by game developer Torsten Reil, former German defense official Gundbert Scherf, and A.I. researcher Niklas Köhler. The company began by developing A.I. software that aids military decision-making with real-time data and insights—a technology that has been deployed by Ukrainian forces since Russia’s invasion in 2022. More recently, Helsing has expanded into manufacturing military hardware, including drones, submarines and aircraft.
Helsing is not alone in the booming defense tech sector. U.S.-based Anduril and Applied Intuition, both building autonomous systems for military use, recently raised $2.5 billion and $600 million, respectively. Those rounds valued Anduril at $30.5 billion and Applied Intuition at $15 billion. In March, drone maker Shield AI secured a $5.3 billion valuation.
Global venture capital interest in defense tech has surged. According to Crunchbase, startups in the sector raised $3 billion across 102 deals in 2024—an 11 percent increase over the previous year. Helsing and Anduril led the way with the largest funding rounds.
Helsing is “uniquely positioned to deliver A.I. capabilities across all-domain defense innovation,” Ek said. “By doubling down on our investment, Prima Materia reaffirms its commitment to empowering Europe’s technological sovereignty—an ambition Helsing perfectly embodies.”