GoKawiilA model of the CA-1 Europa drone, manufactured by the defense contractor Helsing, is on display in front of the company's booth at the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) at the Berlin ExpoCenter Airport.
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.