Helsing
Munich defense-AI firm behind Europe's HX-2 attack drone
Overview
Helsing is a Munich-based defence-AI company building strike drones, electronic-warfare software, and space and combat-aircraft systems for European militaries, Ukraine and now the US, sold only to governments — not a consumer or enterprise SaaS product.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 30 Sep 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
What you can produce with Helsing
- HX-2 strike drone — 12 kg, up to 100 km range, 220 km/h, GPS-denied navigation and swarm networking
- Approved for Ukrainian frontline use, by Helsing's own January 2026 statement
- Electronic-warfare software suite
- CA-1 electronic-attack aircraft programme and a space joint venture with OHB
- Vision-language-action model collaboration with Mistral AI
- US manufacturing in West Virginia, planned at more than 2,000 HX-2s a month
- Government/defence-only sales — no public API or self-serve access
Helsing is the clearest example of Europe trying to build its own Anduril, and it has real deployments to point to: it says the HX-2 strike drone is approved for Ukrainian frontline use, though Bloomberg reported in January 2026 that Ukraine and Germany were pausing new orders over take-off and jamming problems, which Helsing disputes. Germany's Bundestag committed about €269 million to an initial HX-2 contract, with options capped at €1 billion per supplier, and a $1.8 billion Series E at an $18 billion valuation in July 2026 says investors believe the thesis; it is now building a US factory in West Virginia. None of that makes it a tool anyone outside a ministry of defence can use. There's no API, no trial, no public pricing, and the ethics of autonomous targeting software are exactly as fraught as they sound. List it for what it is: a well-funded European defence-AI company, not a product you can sign up for.
What we found
There's no G2 or Capterra page for a company that sells to defence ministries, so the closest thing to "user reviews" here is procurement decisions and financial-press coverage — which, for Helsing, has been unusually consistent since its 2021 founding by Torsten Reil, Gundbert Scherf and Niklas Köhler.
The clearest signal is money. Helsing raised €600 million in June 2025 in a round led by Prima Materia, Spotify founder Daniel Ek's investment firm, at a reported €12 billion valuation. In July 2026 it announced a $1.8 billion Series E at an $18 billion valuation, naming no lead investor, with Dragoneer first among the participants — a jump press reports say makes it Germany's most valuable startup.
The other signal is deployment, and here the picture is more contested than the funding. Helsing's HX-2 is a 12-kilogram strike drone with a range of up to 100 kilometres and a top speed of 220 km/h, built to navigate where GPS is jammed, networked for coordinated swarm strikes, and designed, the company says, to keep a human operator in or on the loop for critical decisions. Helsing said in January 2026 that it was approved for frontline use in Ukraine and that it delivers several hundred a month there; the same month Bloomberg reported that Ukraine and Germany were holding off on new orders after problems with take-offs and jamming, which Helsing disputes. In February 2026 Germany's Bundestag budget committee approved an initial HX-2 contract of about €269 million, with options capped at €1 billion per supplier.
Helsing's reach is widening fast: a space joint venture with OHB, a CA-1 electronic-attack aircraft programme, a vision-language-action model partnership with Mistral AI, and a first US factory in West Virginia to build HX-2s at more than 2,000 a month. Whatever view one takes on autonomous-weapons ethics — and they are exactly as fraught as they sound — this is a company evaluated by governments, not individuals.
Compiled by RECATOOLS from public sources: vendor documentation and pricing, code repositories and published reporting.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Helsing's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Helsing unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
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