Two of the most valuable startups in Europe upgrade: AI superstar Mistral and Defense-Unicorn Helsing want to ensure that “people and AI work better together in the war”.
In Paris, the crème de la crème of the European AI scene will come together this week. And at the start of the AI Action Summit, there is a message with Wumms: Two of the highest rated European startups want to cooperate. The German defense technology company Helsing, Europe's first defense unicorn, and AI developer Mistral Ai, would be happy to see strategic cooperation as the Old World's answer to the Old World in Open AI.
The aim of the partnership is the joint development “of the next generation of AI systems for the defense of Europe”, according to a press release. The partnership “should ensure that people and AI work better in the war.”
Pioneer and newcomer in the field of military technology
This is a new step for Mistral, so far the company has not been in the military and defense area. The Munich company Helsing, on the other hand, is a pioneer in the military application of artificial intelligence. Specially developed combat drones are already in use in Ukraine. And: Helsing can also make existing weapon systems more precisely and faster with its software. In June 2023, the startup two years after the foundation was founded by the Federal Government to “enable the Eurofighter” for the electronic struggle “. In August 2023, the order followed to deliver the AI infrastructure for the new, European Fighter Generation Future Combat Air System (FCAS). Mistral Ai is now supposed to contribute its technology in the area of large language models (LLMS).
Helsing co-founder Gundbert Scherf emphasizes the importance of the partnership for Europe's position in global AI development: “Europe has to show its strength as a global actor, and a leading role in the AI is crucial for this-both for our security and our prosperity. “Mistral Ai CEO Arthur Mensch sees an important step towards strengthening European defense skills in cooperation. In the press release for cooperation, he can be cited: “Our collaboration with Helsing helps Europe to become leadership with artificial intelligence. With our Mistral AI models, new defense systems can be created that make Europe stronger and safer. ”
Five to six billion rating
The French startup Mistral was founded in 2023 by CEO Arthur Mensch, Guillaume Lample and Timothée Lacroix. The founders are former Googles Ki-Sparte Deepmind and the AI department of Meta. Just a few weeks after the foundation, Mistral made headlines across Europe because the startup had collected 105 million euros in a pre-seed round of investors. Mistral gained unicorn status in just seven months-and all of this, because there is great hope that Mistral's AI language models can keep up with those from Meta, Openai and others and that Mistral could become the AI company in Europe. In spring 2024, Mistral would be rated with six billion euros.
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The rise of the defense startup Helsing: The company, founded in 2021, develops KI for various military equipment-for tanks, submarines, jets. This AI can quickly evaluate huge amounts of data generated by sensors and weapon systems. They provide fighter zone information in real-time so that they can make better decisions. In 2024, Helsing Insiden reached an assessment of five billion euros.
Helsing cooperates with many top-class partners, such as Airbus in the area of AI-controlled, autonomous aerospace systems or with the Swedish vehicle and armaments group Saab in the areas of electronic struggle and educational skills for fighter planes as well as other sensors and command and control applications in all domains.
Just one hour after the announcement of the partnership with Mistral, Helsing's press department sent another message: Helsing will also enter into a strategic partnership with Loft Orbital, a company in the field of satellite infrastructure. Together, both companies want to develop a state-of-the-art multi-sensor satellite constellation.
Investors' interest in startups from the field of military technology, of course, has increased – due to crises and wars, for example in Ukraine and Israel. The “turnaround”, initiated by the Russian attack on Ukraine, is also a turn of time in spending money for the defense. Compared to the previous year, the defense budget in Germany increased by 1.83 billion euros in Germany. The Bundeswehr has a total of 71.75 billion euros. And private donors, VCS, also sometimes change their attitude towards “Dual Use” or “Defense”.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/business/helsing-und-mistral-ai-schliessen-strategische-partnerschaft-nhr/
