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Spotify Co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek has led a €600 million (USD $694m) sequence D funding spherical for European defence know-how firm Helsing.
Helsing, based in 2021, makes a speciality of AI protection software program but in addition makes drones like the HX2, and has developed the ‘Centaur’ system that “integrates superior AI pilots into the cockpits of present and future fighter plane”.
The sequence D spherical was led by Daniel Ek by way of his funding car Prima Materia, alongside present traders Lightspeed Ventures, Accel, Plural, Basic Catalyst and SAAB and new traders BDT & MSD Companions.
Ek is known as as Chairman of Helsing in Tuesday’s (June 17) press launch saying the corporate’s newest funding spherical.
“As Europe quickly strengthens its defence capabilities in response to evolving geopolitical challenges, there may be an pressing want for investments in superior applied sciences that guarantee its strategic autonomy and safety readiness,” mentioned Ek in a press release on Tuesday.
Credit score: Sipa US / Alamy
“By doubling down on our funding, Prima Materia reaffirms its dedication to empowering Europe’s technological sovereignty—an ambition Helsing completely embodies.”
Daniel Ek
Ek added: “Helsing is uniquely positioned with its AI management to ship these vital capabilities in all-domain defence innovation.
“By doubling down on our funding, Prima Materia reaffirms its dedication to empowering Europe’s technological sovereignty—an ambition Helsing completely embodies.”
Immediately’s announcement follows Helsing’s Sequence C funding of €450 million in July 2024, involving Basic Catalyst, Elad Gil, Accel, Saab, Lightspeed Ventures, Plural and Greenoaks.
The Monetary Instancesreviews that the newest funding spherical has upped Helsing’s worth to $12 billion. The corporate says that it’s going to use the strategic funding to speed up its “management in all-domain defence innovation”.
Ek/Prima Materia’s “doubling down” of their funding in Helsing arrives 5 years after the Spotify boss pledged a private dedication of €1 billion over the following decade to spend money on European know-how firms.
Ek referred to those firms – working in fields from machine studying to biotechnology, materials sciences and power – as so-called ‘Moonshots‘ that might deal with what he mentioned on the time can be “the deep know-how essential to make a major optimistic dent”.
Ek’s funding firm can be an authentic backer of Neko Well being, the “preventative healthcare know-how firm co-founded by Hjalmar Nilsonne and Daniel Ek, which gives its Physique Scans in London and Stockholm.
In November 2021, it was revealed that Ek, by way of Prima Materia, had invested €100 million into Germany-born defence AI firm Helsing AI. Ek additionally joined the corporate’s Board, alongside Helsing’s co-founders Torsten Reil, Gundbert Scherf and Niklas Köhler.
Ek’s involvement with Helsing AI has beforehand attracted criticism from artists.
Daniel Ek has cashed out over $800 million in Spotify inventory since mid-2023, together with his newest transaction on the finish of April banking $28.8 million.
Spotify posted a record-high working revenue of €509 million ($535.6m) for Q1, 2025. The platform’s subscriber base grew by 5 million to 268 million paid customers.Music Enterprise Worldwide
