Helsing doubles down on the UK with £350 million investment by 2030

Sam Cranny-Evans

Helsing UK has announced plans to double down on its investment in the UK with an additional £350 million that will be used to develop the hardware and software infrastructure needed to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) at scale by 2030, according to a 23rd October Helsing press release

The exact nature of the £350 million investment is not yet clear, however, it is expected to include investment into the hardware and software needed to deploy AI at scale for the UK and Germany as well as to produce it rapidly in the event of a war. This could include the construction of computing facilities that are necessary to train machine learning models, as well as the software to enable them to interact with other software-defined systems that are already in service.

The announcement was made in the wake of the Anglo-German Trinity House Agreement, Helsing will be focusing on the agreement’s lighthouse projects. “This significant new investment into the UK from Helsing is hugely welcome. It shows how our historic UK-Germany defence agreement can help drive our defence industries forward, creating highly skilled jobs and boosting economic growth,” John Healey the UK’s Defence Secretary said in a statement.

The ‘lighthouse projects’ include supporting Ukraine with AI, modernising land forces on NATO’s eastern flank through projects like the British Army’s ASGARD and digitising underwater surveillance to safeguard critical national infrastructure.

Project ASGARD is a Request for Information initiated by the British Army on 8th October. It calls for a software-defined, network enabled reconnaissance and strike complex that can prosecute divisional and brigade deep targets. This typically refers to the types of targets within an adversary’s order of battle that are beyond the reach of conventional tube artillery and direct fire weapons, and critical to an adversary’s functioning. This can include air defence systems, long-range strike capabilities, command and control nodes, and ammunition depots. It includes a requirement for greater digital operational memory to facilitate target selection, integration of appropriate effectors with in-theatre communications capabilities, and enhanced situational awareness.

The requirements for undersea Critical National Infrastructure are less clear, however, it is a major concern for western nations. Undersea cables in particular have been raised as a potential vulnerability; “we’re exploring a whole area [seabed warfare] which we don’t fully understand at the moment in terms of the solution space, because when we first put together the United Nations Convention for war on the sea, for instance, it was very much focused on what happens on the surface of the sea,” First Sea Lord, Admiral Ben Key said in 2023. However, improving situational awareness through detection and attributing possible attacks is a strong start on the road to deterrence.

In both areas, Helsing’s AI capabilities could serve to enhance situational awareness and the ability to process large volumes of data in a short space of time. “We need to do defence differently if we are going to counter proliferating threats within national budgets,” Amelia Gould, Helsing UK’s managing director said. The company has also supported Ukraine to operationalise AI and signed an MoU with Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries in February 2024 to integrate AI into Ukrainian drones. “I know Helsing’s work from my visits to Ukraine and I am very pleased they are investing in the latest technologies to modernise both our countries’ armed forces. This sort of Anglo-German industrial and political collaboration can make the difference for our shared security,” Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defence minister said. 

Helsing was founded in 2021 to provide European democracies with AI capabilities for their defence needs. The company’s growth since has been significant; it raised € 450 million in its series C funding announced in July 2024, following on from € 209 million raised from its series B in September 2023. Since its founding, it has established companies in Germany, France, the UK, and Estonia. The company has been awarded contracts to upgrade some of Germany’s Eurofighters in partnership with Saab, and it has also been selected to build the AI backbone for FCAS.

Photo courtesy Helsing                     

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