Helsing, the start-up that dreams of Palantir of military AI – Teller Report

A festival. For the past few days, the German start-up Helsing, a specialist in military artificial intelligence, has been doing its market in the small French aeronautics and defense community. She announced on October 6 the appointment at the head of the French subsidiary of the former head of digital at Airbus, Marc Fontaine, and the ex-Palantir France Antoine de Braquilanges, respectively as president and as general manager. On October 10, it was the turn of General Denis Mercier, former head of the Air Force and ex-Supreme Allied Commander for NATO transformation, to join the strategic committee of the Berlin company. Helsing has since recruited an AI specialist from the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), Mattis Paulin. The company multiplies the appointments with French decision-makers, from the armies to the DGA, on the sidelines of the Euronaval show, the great naval defense meeting which is held from October 18 to 21 at Le Bourget. Objective: first contracts signed quickly with the French forces.

What is Helsing the name of? Difficult to get a precise idea, as the company is discreet about its activity. Founded in 2021 in Berlin, the start-up has so far made itself known above all for its XXL fundraising of 102.5 million euros in November 2021including 100 million contributed by the Prima Materia fund of the Spotify founder Daniel Ek, when it had neither product nor customer yet. Its business is more mysterious, because it is very specific: the company develops AI technology installed directly in military equipment (armoured vehicles, helicopters, drones, ships, etc.). “Our specificity is that our AI is on board military platforms, explains Marc Fontaine in an interview with Challenges. This technology allows real-time AI analysis, closer to the combatant, which is an essential asset for preserving the operational superiority of European armies.”

Identification of the enemy

The applications of Helsing’s AI are multiple, assures the group: help in the identification of the enemy, which makes it possible to neutralize it more quickly; support for field operators, relieved of the analysis of multiple flows of tactical information; real-time exchange of information between platforms: an armored vehicle assisted by the AI ​​can designate a target to another, which will take care of firing the armament. Two types of products would already be ready, indicates the group: an ISR solution (Intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance), embedded on the optronic balls of drones or helicopters for example; and a solution dedicated to electronic warfare (detection of the adversary’s electromagnetic emissions).

The group has already recruited 150 people, including 75 in Germany, around fifty in the United Kingdom and 25 in France. It is targeting 200 employees at the end of 2022, and 400 at its cruising speed. “We are dealing with army data, which is a sensitive and eminently sovereign subject, explains Marc Fontaine. The idea is therefore to create a kind of AI MBDA (named after the European missile owned by Airbus, the British BAe and the Italian LeonardoEditor’s note), multi-domestic, with strong and autonomous national entities “Basically, a hundred employees will work on a common technical base. Three national subsidiaries, in Germany, the United Kingdom and France, will employ 100 employees each. The French subsidiary should only integrate French people, with a Chinese wall system to preserve data on national soil.

The group thinks big, very big even. A first acquisition has already been made: the company Design AI, a specialist in AI by reinforcement. “We often complain about the dependence on American technologies, on the cloud, big data, cyber, points out Marc Fontaine. There, we have a real opportunity to bring out a European champion of AI in the service of the sovereignty of each country.”

Swarm of Palantir Elders

For the moment, the European champion, who refuses to define himself as a German company, still has a strong Germanic sound. Four of the five co-founders are German, as are half of the workforce. Two of the group’s four sites are in Germany (Munich and Berlin), the other two being in London and Paris. The industrial partnerships announced have so far been exclusively with military players across the Rhine, such as the Land armament giant Rheinmetalland the German subsidiaries of the European missile MBDA and Swedish group Saab. Airbus Germany has also embarked the start-up on upstream research contracts related to the Future Air Combat System (SCAF), the Franco-German-Spanish combat aircraft project (and accompanying drones) which is to succeed the Rafale and the Eurofighter by 2040.

The recruitment of experienced managers in France responds to a desire to boost the activity in France, where the activity starts 18 months after Germany, and one year after the United Kingdom. Helsing hopes for the first contracts with the Ministry of the Armed Forces in the coming months. “After having approached a slew of 4 and 5 star generals, they have been besieging decision-makers, in the armies and at the DGA, for a few weeks”, assures a French industrialist.

Helsing relies on a team of leaders from quite different backgrounds. Torsten Reilthe managing director, had founded the British video game developer NaturalMotion, sold to Zynga in 2014 for $527 million. Director of Operations Gundbert Scherf is a former cyber command of the Bundeswehr, also passed by the digital division of the German Ministry of Defense. As for the technical director Robert Fink, he spent more than seven years as an engineer at the American specialist in big data Palantir. A good dozen employees recently recruited are also ex-Palantir.

Preligens in the viewfinder?

Could the new entrant threaten the French military AI champion Preligens? Not in the short term. The French group, whose algorithms are able to automatically recognize the types of military equipment, and often even their exact models, has just struck a blow by winning a contract with the DGA, which could bring it up to 270 million euros. euros in seven years. On the other hand, most of Preligens’ activity is not, at least for the moment, centered on on-board equipment, but on the a posteriori analysis of data (satellite images, radar data, etc.). The evolution towards real time of the French nugget could see the two European champions confront each other much more directly.

Helsing has also tried, without success, to recruit several dozen data scientists from Preligens, a team without equal in Europe which is the nuclear heart of the French start-up. An HR non-aggression pact has, according to our information, since been negotiated between the two groups. For some, Helsing is therefore already looking like the new scarecrow of the sector, which could walk on the flowerbeds of Thales, Preligens, or the military activities of Atos (BDS branch). “They recruit top profiles, the support of Daniel Ek gives them a monumental financial capacity, they must not be underestimated”, warns a familiar with the Ministry of the Armed Forces.

Other specialists are more circumspect. Helsing, say some, has a huge payroll and almost zero turnover. A cocktail that could lead to financial difficulties in a few months. “They make noise, but they are far, very far, from being where they claim to be, asserts an industrialist. Their ability to deliver what they promise seems quite limited.” Asked, Marc Fontaine assures that the group has solid backs, and that contracts are already being negotiated. For Helsing as for its competitors, the next few months promise to be decisive.