Daniel Ek, Spotify’s CEO and founder, has led a €600 million round of investment in Helsing, a Munich-based AI defence company that manufactures strike drones, aircraft and mini-submarines amid changes in European warfare.
Helsing, which started in 2021, is now valued at €12 billion, according to the Financial Times, placing it among Europe’s five most valuable private tech companies. Its flagship product is AI-based software that offers real-time “video-game-style visualisation” of battlefields, as reported by Wired. However, since its inception, Helsing has expanded its operation to build and sell strike drones, and is now preparing a fleet of unmanned mini submarines, reports TechCrunch. The company has sold thousands of strike drones to Ukraine in the past year as the Russia-Ukrainian war continues.
The €600 million Series D funding, which was spearheaded by Ek’s investment firm Prima Materia, will be used to “accelerate Helsing’s leadership in all-domain defence innovation”, says Helsing.
Daniel Ek, who is also Chairman at Helsing, adds: “As Europe rapidly strengthens its defence 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…By doubling down on our investment, Prima Materia reaffirms its commitment to empowering Europe’s technological sovereignty—an ambition Helsing perfectly embodies.”
The investment round also saw funding from Lightspeed Ventures, Accel, Plural, General Catalyst and SAAB and BDT & MSD Partners. Overall, the company has now raised €1.37 billion, according to TechCrunch.
Speaking to the FT, Ek adds: “The world is being tested in more ways than ever before…There’s an enormous realisation that it’s really now AI, mass and autonomy that is driving the new battlefield.”
Ek has come under scrutiny before for his involvement in Helsing. Artists such as Skee Mask have removed their music from Spotify and boycotted the streaming platform following Ek’s €100 million investment in Helsing in 2021. The Spotify CEO expects further backlash, but remains adamant: “I’m sure people will criticise it, and that’s OK,” he says.
“Personally, I’m not concerned about it. I focus more on doing what I think is right, and I am 100 per cent convinced that this is the right thing for Europe.”
Alongside his work for Spotify, Prima Materia and Helsing, Daniel Ek is also the chairman and co-founder at Neko Health, a medical technology company that uses AI to analyse health data.
In the past two years, Ek has cashed out around $376.3 million worth of Spotify shares — a sum that no artist on the streaming platform has reached via its royalties system. In April 2025, Spotify recorded its highest subscriber net adds since 2020.
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