Europe's Anduril rival Helsing raises $1.8 billion at $18 billion valuation

European defense startup Helsing said Monday it has raised $1.8 billion in a funding round that values the German firm at $18 billion.

New and existing investors participated in the funding, including U.S. investment bank JPMorgan Chase and venture capital funds such as Lightspeed Venture Partners and Iconiq.

"Investor demand significantly exceeded the available allocation, reflecting strong and growing confidence in AI-driven and software-defined defence technology," Helsing said in a press release.

Helsing bills itself as a hardware and software platform for defense. It makes drones and underwater surveillance weapons, and it builds artificial intelligence and autonomous software to power these military applications.

The Munich-headquartered firm has positioned itself as a European champion in defense, with its HX-2 drones among the systems that are being supplied to the Ukrainian army. Helsing has benefited from a renewed focus from Europe on building more sovereign capabilities in technology and defense.

"The company remains predominantly European-owned, underscoring its deep roots in Europe," Helsing said in its press release.

The latest funding round will "accelerate Helsing's mission to develop and integrate entirely new AI platforms into the defense capabilities of its growing number of partner nations," the startup added.

Private market investors have been eager to back new age defense companies. In the U.S., Helsing rival Anduril raised $5 billion at a $61 billion valuation in May. Shield AI and autonomous shipmaker Saronic are among some of the other startups that have raised funding recently.