German Helsing raises $1.8bn in investment and appoints a new managing director in Ukraine

German defence tech company Helsing has appointed Andriy Shevchenko as managing director of its Ukraine operations. A former Ukrainian ambassador to Canada and deputy defence minister, Shevchenko will lead the company’s activities in Ukraine, Defender Media has learned from the team.

Today, Helsing also announced raising $1.8bn in investment. The valuation stood at $18bn. The funds are intended to accelerate the development and integration of new AI platforms into the defence sectors of partner countries.

What Helsing and its Ukrainian division do

Helsing was founded in 2021, and its flagship product is currently the HX-2 mid-strike drone, which it supplies to Ukraine and Germany. Its main feature is artificial intelligence that allows it to detect and engage targets under EW.

In addition, the drone can be used as part of a swarm thanks to Altra – a software platform for combat planning and management.

The company’s hardware developments also include the SG-1 underwater reconnaissance drone and the CA-1 Europa autonomous fighter jet. Software products include AI for fighter jets and a platform for planning underwater missions.

Helsing has been operating in Ukraine since early 2024. At that time, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence signed a contract for 4,000 drones, Bild reports. In 2025, the startup stated that it planned to supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a further 6,000 HX-2 drones. The press service adds that since the start of this year, the Defence Forces have received “thousands of AI drones”.

However, it is known that in early 2026 Ukraine suspended its order of HX-2 drones following technical problems that arose during testing. Helsing now states that its drones have a success rate of around 70% in Ukraine, the New York Times reports.

In parallel, Helsing is building cooperation with Ukrainian companies: it has agreed with Ukrainian UAV manufacturer Culver Aerospace on joint development and production of deep strike drones in Germany, which will also finance it.

What is known about Shevchenko

Helsing co-founder Gundbert Scherf says Shevchenko will be able to take the company’s mission in Ukraine to a new level and lead the next stage of its work. Helsing has not yet commented on the work of its local office or its development plans.

Andriy Shevchenko began his career in journalism, working at several newspapers and TV channels. He was one of the founders of Channel 5, and later became vice-president of the National Television Company of Ukraine, which was eventually transformed into Suspilne Broadcasting.

In 2006, he entered politics and was elected as a Member of Parliament for Batkivshchyna three times. In 2014, he also ran in elections but failed to enter parliament.

From 2015 to 2021, he was Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada, and from 2017 to 2021, he was also the representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization. This is a body that helps countries cooperate in aviation, working on civil aviation safety, infrastructure modernisation, the development of new procedures, and so on.

In 2023, he was the Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine under Oleksii Reznikov, dealing with European integration issues.