Helsing — Company Profile & Contracts

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Helsing

Defense Software/AICombat-fieldedEUPrivate

Helsing develops strike drones, combat-aircraft autonomy and maritime systems for allied militaries and Ukraine, alongside space reconnaissance and robotics research.

Founded

2021

HQ

Munich, Germany

Headcount

Helsing says ≈1,300dpa, Sep 2026

Total raised

Recent rounds: €600M Series D (Jun 2025, Helsing); US$1.8B Series EJul 2026, Helsing

Valuation

US$18BJul 2026, Helsing

Stage

Private / Series EHelsing

Background

Helsing announced in February 2025 that it would manufacture HX-2 strike drones in-house alongside the earlier HF-1 programme with Ukrainian industrial partners. Helsing unveiled the CA-1 Europa aircraft design study in September 2025. In June 2026, Helsing introduced the electronic-attack CA-1EA and designated the kinetic-attack version CA-1KA, with shared airframe, propulsion, autonomy software and ground-control infrastructure.

The aircraft remains in development, and Helsing targets CA-1KA's first flight for early 2027, initial operating capability for CA-1KA in 2029 and for CA-1EA in 2031. Hensoldt announced an initial order for three CAIRAS infrared missile-warning systems for CA-1 in July 2026.

Saab announced three Gripen E flights with Helsing's Centaur AI pilot under FMV-funded Project Beyond, beginning on 28 May 2025. In the beyond-visual-range scenarios, Centaur controlled the aircraft and cued the human pilot to fire, according to Saab.

Helsing announced a November 2025 contract with Saab Germany to integrate Cirra into the Arexis electronic-warfare suite over three years for the programme equipping 15 German Eurofighters.

Helsing launched Area 9 in June 2026 under Chief Scientist Antoine Bordes, identifying RX-1 as a robotics research platform and naming initial partnerships with Marco Hutter's ETH Zurich group and INRIA Paris.

Helsing unveiled Lura acoustic AI and the SG-1 Fathom underwater glider in May 2025, claiming patrol endurance of up to three months and acoustic classification and localisation capabilities.

Grob Aircraft announced a binding acquisition agreement with Helsing on 4 June 2025, subject to regulatory approval, and Helsing identified Grob as its subsidiary by 25 September.

Helsing's acquisition of Blue Ocean completed on 29 May 2026, according to the dated completion announcement from Helsing. Spain's Official Mercantile Registry Bulletin recorded Keybotic's renaming as Helsing Spain and Helsing GmbH as its sole shareholder in registrations dated 23 June 2025.

Helsing said its first German Resilience Factory was operational in February 2025 and claimed capacity exceeding 1,000 HX-2s per month. The UK government confirmed the opening of Helsing's Plymouth maritime factory on 19 November 2025; Helsing described the facility as an SG-1 production site and maritime research centre within its £350 million UK investment commitment.

Helsing opened a Stockholm presence in April 2026 to support Swedish and Nordic defence work. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey announced a US$50 million initial investment in a planned Martinsburg facility in July 2026, and Helsing projected capacity exceeding 2,000 HX-2s per month when fully operational.

Reuters reported a December 2025 memorandum with Schaeffler covering drone components and production scaling, with volumes, prices and commercial terms to be negotiated. Helsing announced a June 2026 HX-2 warhead cooperation memorandum with EURENCO, initially addressing French operational requirements while retaining its Instalaza partnership.

ESUT reported an April 2026 agreement with Ukraine's Culver Aerospace for joint drone development and manufacturing in Germany, combining Culver aircraft with Helsing AI, including Centaur. Helsing and OHB established KIRK in May 2026 for tactical space-based reconnaissance, and Helsing announced June cooperation agreements involving ConstellR, Rocket Factory Augsburg, Marble Imaging, DMI, TerraLens and LiveEO without disclosing a customer procurement value or operational deployment date.

Helsing's releases identify Torsten Reil and Gundbert Scherf as co-founders and co-CEOs, while its July financing announcement names Daniel Ek and Tom Enders as board co-chairmen.

Helsing appointed Anita Szarek CFO effective 11 May 2026, Helsing appointed Frank Dirksen Chief Commercial Officer starting in June, and Helsing appointed Andriy Shevchenko Managing Director for Ukraine in July.

Latest developments

Linked records

Wired to the rest of BattlePolicy — the systems it builds in the Lexicon and the contracts it wins in the Procurement Tracker. Every link below is a record in our own datasets.

⌖ Lexicon — systems

HX-2profile
HX-2 loitering munitionsprofile

⌖ Procurement — contracts

Ukraine — HX-2signed
Ukraine — HX-2signed
Germany — HX-2 loitering munitionsframework

⌖ Analysis — coverage

Earlier coverage

Financial footing

Helsing announced a €600 million Series D on 17 June 2025, subject to certain approvals
Tech.eu reported a €12 billion valuation, which Helsing did not disclose
Helsing announced a US$1.8 billion Series E at a US$18 billion valuation on 13 July 2026, documented by Helsing and transaction adviser Latham & Watkins
ESUT reported that Germany's procurement agency signed loitering-munition framework contracts with Helsing Germany and Stark on 26 February 2026, with Helsing's first call-off covering approximately 4,300 HX-2s for €270 million
Backers: Prima Materia, Lightspeed Ventures, Accel, Plural, General Catalyst, Saab, BDT & MSD Partners (Series D participants named by Helsing, 17 June 2025), Dragoneer Investment Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Disruptive, Iconiq, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, JPMorganChase, CPP Investments, General Catalyst, Plural, StepStone (Series E participants named by Helsing, 13 July 2026), Greenoaks (named alongside Prima Materia and Accel as an existing investor, without explicit identification as a Series E participant, by Helsing, 13 July 2026)

Helsing announced a €600 million Series D on 17 June 2025, led by Prima Materia and subject to certain approvals. Tech.eu reported a €12 billion valuation, attributing the figure to the Financial Times; Helsing did not disclose a valuation in its announcement.

Helsing announced a US$1.8 billion Series E at a US$18 billion valuation on 13 July 2026, and Latham & Watkins confirmed that it represented participating investor Dragoneer.

ESUT reported that Germany's procurement agency signed framework contracts with Helsing Germany and Stark on 26 February 2026, with Helsing's first call-off covering approximately 4,300 HX-2s for about €270 million.

ESUT reported seven-year frameworks with a €1 billion limit per supplier, additional parliamentary approval required to exceed that limit, and qualification and serial-readiness conditions for further purchases. Hartpunkt, quoting the defence ministry, reported that HX-2 qualification remained unfinished on 2 October 2026.

Helsing announced a signed Cirra integration contract with Saab Germany on 19 November 2025, worth a three-digit million-euro amount and covering three years of work, without disclosing a precise value. Politico reported a proposed €580 million CFSN contract on 29 June 2026.

Hartpunkt reported that the Bundestag's budget committee approved slightly more than €220 million of initial CFSN research and development funding on 8 July, identifying Helsing as the intended contractor. Neither Politico nor Hartpunkt established signature of the proposed €580 million contract.

Helsing announced on 20 October 2026 that it intended to participate in Destinus' latest funding round alongside a commercial partnership; it disclosed no investment amount, ownership percentage or valuation and did not announce completion.

Major customers & contracts

Joined live from the Procurement & Contracts Tracker — real award/announcement records.

Customer	System	Scale / detail	Status
Ukraine	HX-2	Part of ~€536 million contract covering Helsing and Stark Defence; Helsing's share not disclosed	signed
Ukraine	HX-2	Two follow-on orders totalling 10,000 units; figures unconfirmed	signed
Germany	HX-2 loitering munitions	€269 million initial order, part of a framework worth up to €1.46 billion over seven years	framework

Further disclosed customers & programs (public reporting):

Helsing announced a commitment to produce 6,000 HX-2 strike drones for Ukraine on 13 February 2025, following an earlier order for 4,000 HF-1s produced with Ukrainian industry.

Helsing said on 15 July 2026 that thousands of HX-2s had been deployed to Ukraine's armed forces since the beginning of the year, without providing an independently audited delivery total. DW documented continued HF-1 use and HX-2 combat employment in its 3 July 2026 account of a March frontline visit and subsequent correspondence.

ESUT reported that Germany's procurement agency signed framework contracts with Helsing Germany and Stark on 26 February 2026, with Helsing's first call-off covering approximately 4,300 HX-2s for about €270 million and Panzerbrigade 45 in Lithuania the first intended formation, from 2027.

ESUT reported a €1 billion framework limit per supplier, additional parliamentary approval to exceed that limit, and qualification and serial-readiness conditions for further purchases. Hartpunkt, quoting the defence ministry, reported that HX-2 and Stark's Virtus were approaching completion of Bundeswehr qualification on 2 October 2026, with work still outstanding, first training or exercises planned for November and tactical employment capability expected during 2026.

Politico reported a proposed €580 million CFSN contract on 29 June 2026, covering two experimental uncrewed combat aircraft, two ground-control stations, infrastructure, software and a government-owned reference architecture. Hartpunkt reported that the Bundestag's budget committee approved slightly more than €220 million of initial research and development funding on 8 July, identifying Helsing as the intended contractor.

Neither Politico nor Hartpunkt established signature of the entire proposed €580 million contract. Helsing separately announced a signed contract with Saab Germany in November 2025 to integrate Cirra into Arexis for the programme equipping 15 Luftwaffe Eurofighters.

Hartpunkt reported on 10 July 2026 that IABG was assessing proposed systems from Destinus, Diehl Defence, Helsing and MBDA Deutschland for the Bundeswehr's One Way Effector 500 Plus requirement, with flight demonstrations required in autumn.

Hartpunkt did not identify Helsing's proposed product or report a production award.

The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed Helsing contracts under Project ASGAARD, a network-enabled reconnaissance-and-strike complex, and Project ACHERON, an assessment of all-domain integrated remote autonomous systems, in ACOBA correspondence, without disclosing values or quantities. Defence Minister Luke Pollard confirmed Helsing's December 2025 Royal Navy technology demonstration and described Atlantic Net as a competition requiring assessment before award in a UK Parliament answer.

Janes identified Helsing among five competing consortium leaders in April 2026. Janes reported on 17 September that an Ocean Infinity-led consortium had been selected as preferred mission partner and was in final negotiations; the report established neither a Helsing contract award nor whether Helsing had a supply role in that consortium.

Saab said Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration, FMV, fully funded Project Beyond, under which Centaur completed three Gripen E flight tests between 28 May and 3 June 2025. Reuters reported on 17 August 2026 that Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force was testing HX-2 through the end of September, with Rakuten helping Helsing pursue military business.

Helsing told Reuters that it had reached an initial agreement earlier in the year, but Reuters disclosed no production-order quantity, contract value or completed qualification result.

The European Defence Agency identified Helsing Germany among five loitering-munition producers participating in the completed EU OPEX campaign in Portugal from 21 September to 14 October 2026, including the Sentinel Strike Challenge.

The European Defence Agency said tasks included identifying and striking stationary and moving targets by day and night in contested or denied conditions, with Sentinel Strike winners expected in early 2027; it did not publish Helsing's score.

Leadership & contact surface

Leadership: Gundbert Scherf (co-CEO; co-founder Torsten Reil co-CEO; Niklas Köhler co-founder; Daniel Ek chairman)
Official site: https://helsing.ai

Contact policy. BattlePolicy maps roles and official, published channels only — who owns a decision and the front door — never individuals’ personal phone numbers, private emails or home details. This keeps the file GDPR-clean and welcome to the companies we profile.

Competitive position

Against Anduril, Helsing shares the autonomous-strike and AI-software positioning but lacks Anduril's U.S. government contract base and IVAS/counter-UAS hardware breadth; Helsing's edge is deeper NATO-Europe sovereign integration and the Bundeswehr as anchor customer. Against Shield AI, Helsing's Centaur competes directly for AI-pilot roles on manned fighters, but Shield AI has longer F-16 and V-BAT operational history. Against Rheinmetall, Helsing is a software layer that Rheinmetall itself integrates, making the relationship partly cooperative and partly competitive as Rheinmetall builds its own drone and autonomy stack.

Against Airbus Defence and Space on FCAS, Helsing holds the AI autonomy work while Airbus owns the airframe, a partnership that could invert if Airbus internalizes that capability. Against Saab, the Centaur/Project Beyond partnership is currently collaborative, but Saab's investor stake creates alignment tension if Helsing's valuation trajectory prompts acquisition interest. The structural market risk is that all these partners are also potential acquirers or disintermediators.

Battlefield relevance

Kyiv Post, recounting Bloomberg's investigation on 19 January 2026, reported that a November 2025 German Defence Ministry presentation alleged that approximately 40% of delivered HF-1s remained unused, only 25% of HX-2s launched in a particular frontline test and intended AI functions were absent.

Kyiv Post also reported a conversion of HF-1 supply to HX-2, which Helsing said had been planned from the outset. Helsing disputed the findings, while the German ministry said its management had neither reviewed nor approved the presentation, Kyiv Post reported.

Politico said it was unclear whether the German procurement configuration matched the Ukrainian version.

Helsing told Politico that only a low double-digit number of HX-2s had then been used at the front and argued that the sample could not support reliable performance conclusions.

In a 3 July 2026 article recounting a March frontline visit and subsequent correspondence, DW described HX-2 connection and launch difficulties, an aborted mission and footage soldiers showed of a later truck strike.

Senior Sergeant Oleksandr Karpyuk told DW that manufacturer changes had improved HF-1 performance to hitting more than half of targets in his sector. Karpyuk's assessment in DW concerned local HF-1 performance and does not establish an HX-2 or Ukraine-wide success rate.

ESUT reported 15 HX-2 target hits and two near-misses from 17 flights during the US-led Flytrap 5.0 exercise in Lithuania, with Helsing confirming the figures.

The exercise result reported by ESUT, the target-reaching sample reported by Politico, the launch rate described by Kyiv Post and the local HF-1 assessment recorded by DW concern different aircraft, samples, measures and conditions and do not establish a fleet-wide combat success rate.

Helsing said on 15 July 2026 that thousands of HX-2s had been deployed to Ukraine's armed forces since the beginning of the year and claimed they were supporting Logistics Lockdown operations against Russian logistics.

Sources & verification

Analyst verdict Pro

⌖ Analyst note · BattlePolicy assessment — judgment, not reporting

Our assessment of Helsing turns on whether the US$1.8 billion Series E at a US$18 billion valuation announced by Helsing on 13 July 2026 translates into reliable fielded capability.

The Bundeswehr programme makes qualification the immediate commercial test: ESUT reported qualification and serial-readiness conditions for further purchases under frameworks capped at €1 billion per supplier, with additional parliamentary approval required to exceed that limit. That test remained unfinished on 2 October, when Hartpunkt reported qualification approaching completion and initial training or exercises planned for November.

The strongest evidence for the iteration thesis remains local: Senior Sergeant Oleksandr Karpyuk told DW that manufacturer changes lifted HF-1 to hitting more than half its targets in his sector. DW also documented HX-2 connection and launch problems and an aborted mission, keeping that local HF-1 improvement separate from HX-2 reliability.

October adds a larger trial sample, with Helsing claiming 39 successful attacks in 41 attempts, but ESUT explicitly reported that independent confirmation was absent and scenarios and success criteria differed. We would give those results limited weight in assessing combat reliability: the 15 hits and two near-misses from 17 Flytrap flights reported by ESUT are exercise outcomes, while Karpyuk's assessment in DW concerns another aircraft and a local combat sample.

We would give delivered capability more weight than the capacity exceeding 1,000 HX-2s per month claimed by Helsing for its German factory or the future capacity exceeding 2,000 per month projected by Helsing for West Virginia.

The US$50 million investment and at least 60 jobs announced by West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey are commitments, leaving expenditure and operating output to be demonstrated. CA-1 adds another execution demand, with Helsing targeting an early-2027 first flight for CA-1KA, initial operating capability in 2029 for CA-1KA and 2031 for CA-1EA.

What would change our assessment is repeat HX-2 combat performance with stated samples and mission measures that address the connection and launch problems documented by DW.

We would watch completion of qualification and the November training or exercises planned in Hartpunkt's October account, followed by Panzerbrigade 45's intended receipt of the capability from 2027 as reported by ESUT. Actual output from the US factory would also carry more weight in our assessment than the capacity Helsing projects.