European tech leaders Helsing and Mistral have formed a pact to build new military AI systems.
The partnership brings together two of Europe’s top startups. Helsing, a defence tech firm based in Germany, was valued at €5bn last year. Founded in 2021, the company develops software for weapons, vehicles, and military strategy. Its systems have been deployed in battlefield simulations, fighter jets, and drones in Ukraine.
Mistral, meanwhile, is widely considered Europe’s closest competitor to OpenAI. The French startup has also become a favourite of investors, raising at €600mn at a valuation of €5.8bn last year.
The partners announced their alliance today at a landmark AI summit in Paris. In a statement, they pledged to develop systems “for the defence of Europe.”
Their collaboration will focus on vision-language-action (VLA) models. An emerging field of AI, VLA blends visual perception, language understanding, and outputs for robotics.
Helsing and Mistral will bring the models into defence platforms. The startups said the integration will boost decision-making, understanding of environments, and communication with operators.
Military AI on the rise in Europe
Helsing and was signed amid a boom for European defence tech. Anxieties around Russia’s imperial ambitions and Donald Trump’s threats to NATO have led military budgets to soar across the continent.
Last month, the European Commission allocated over €1bn to defence R&D projects. VC spending on military tech is also surging in Europe.
A big chunk of these funds is flowing towards AI systems. Helsing, for instance, raised a whopping €450mn last June. By combining forces with Mistral, the startup plans to shape the future of defence tech.
“Europe needs to assert its strength as a geopolitical actor, and AI leadership is the key to that strength and Europe’s future security and prosperity,” said Gundbert Scherf, co-founder of Helsing.
“As Europe’s fastest and most ambitious companies in the space, we will advance this leadership for the next generation of defence systems. “
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