After investing an initial €100 million in the company in 2021, Spotify’s billionaire CEO Daniel Ek has - much to the chagrin of many within the music industry - committed a further €600 million ($1.07 billion) to a military tech start-up called Helsing.
Established to develop and deploy AI technology for defence industry in order to protect fragile democracies, Helsing is now valued at €12 billion, making the German company one of Europe’s most valuable start-ups.
Ek recently told the media that what prompted him to accelerate his timeline for Helsing’s financing were the unprecedented ways in which the world is currently coming under threat.
"There’s an enormous realisation that it’s really now AI, mass and autonomy that is driving the new battlefield," said Ek who recently became Helsing’s chairman.
“We’re now at an inflection point… where we are going from a software company to an all-domain, AI software and hardware company.”
Founded in 2021, Helsing sells software that uses AI technology to analyse large amounts of sensor and weapon system data from the battlefield to inform military decisions in real time.
Last year, the startup also began manufacturing its own line of military drones, called HX-2.
Helsing, which operates in the UK, Germany and France, plans to use the latest round of funding to invest in Europe’s “technological sovereignty” — which refers to attempts to onshore the development and production of critical technologies, such as AI.
“As Europe rapidly strengthens its defence capabilities in response to evolving geopolitical challenges, there is an urgent need for investments in advanced technologies that ensure its strategic autonomy and security readiness,” Ek also noted.
Meanwhile, Ek’s decision to invest heavily in this defence start-up has come under intense fire from a growing chorus of artists and industry advocates who dislike the idea of a Spotify subscription funding war.
Following Ek’s initial investment in Helsing, German electronic music producer Skee Mask made headlines by scrapping his entire discography from the platform.
Popular music reviewer Anthony Fantano, known online as “The Needle Drop”, joined the chorus with a video published this week titled “Evil Music CEO.”
“If you are at all familiar with the history of capitalism, you understand that the entertainment industry being mixed in, in some form or fashion, with some of the worst sectors of our economy,” Fantano told his two million subscribers.
“It’s nothing new. But it’s somehow worsening, thanks to Daniel Ek, CEO over at Spotify.”
Legendary American indie band Deerhoof is also leaving Spotify after Helsing raised €600 million in its latest round of funding, which was led by venture capital firm Prima Materia, co-founded by Ek.
"We don’t want our music killing people,” the band said in a statement, explaining why they’re planning on taking all of their music off the streaming platform.
“We don’t want our success being tied to AI battle tech.”
