Helsing buys into drone maker Destinus as Europe's defence startups start to consolidate
What's the deal? Helsing, Europe's most valuable defence startup, has agreed a commercial partnership with Dutch drone and missile maker DestinusDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and will join Destinus's latest funding round alongside other investors, the companies announced on 20 October. Neither company disclosed the investment size, stake or valuation. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Helsing would take a minority stake at a valuation of around €6 billion ($6.7 billion). That figure has not been confirmed by either company.
Then a bolt-on: A day later, Destinus said it had completed the acquisition of Perciv AI, a TU Delft spinout that builds neural-network radar perception software for detecting and tracking small, low-signature targets and for navigating when GNSS is jammed. Terms were not disclosed. Perciv raised a €2.5 million seed round in 2024 from Day One Capital, Keen Venture Partners and Vinci Venture Capital, and becomes Destinus's radar perception centre.
The bigger picture: Europe's defence-tech boom is entering a consolidation phase. Instead of waiting for the primes, the best-funded startups are now buying into each other and rolling up specialists. Helsing, which raised $1.8 billion at an $18 billion valuation in July, brings AI software and its own strike drones; Destinus brings mass-producible strike and air-defence hardware for NATO buyers. Destinus has been assembling a full stack: Swiss flight-autonomy firm Daedalean, Dutch drone maker AerialtronicsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (2025), OPRA turbine assets (2023), a radar-seeker joint venture with TNO and now Perciv.
"Radar perception needs to be developed as part of the complete system," said Destinus founder and CEO Mikhail Kokorich. "Bringing Perciv AI into Destinus gives us control over a critical technology."
The valuation jump: According to Bloomberg, Destinus raised a convertible note at a valuation of more than €1 billion in 2025 and was in talks in May about a valuation above €5 billion ahead of a planned IPO. If the reported ~€6 billion holds, that is roughly a sixfold step-up in about a year.
What could go wrong? Bloomberg reported that no final decisions had been made on the investment, and a Destinus spokesperson declined to comment. Partners can also become rivals: both companies build strike drones for the same European ministries.
Sources: Helsing, Destinus, Bloomberg via Investing.com, Destinus on Perciv AI, Aviation Week
Image: Destinus
