Who are Helsing's decision-makers?

Torsten Reil trained as a computational biologist at Oxford and then built NaturalMotion — a procedural animation company whose physics-based character movement technology powered major video game franchises — before selling it to Zynga for $527M in 2014. His background gives Helsing an unusual founder DNA: deep AI research discipline combined with proven ability to commercialize it at scale in a competitive, speed-driven market.

Gundbert Scherf is the policy and procurement complement to Reil's technical leadership. Before Helsing he was a McKinsey partner and served as a special advisor to Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence, working on digital transformation of the Bundeswehr. That background provides direct access to the procurement decision-makers inside Germany's defense establishment — a structurally rare asset for a startup competing with Rheinmetall and other established primes.

Niklas Köhler, the third co-founder, came from machine learning research at Helmholtz Zentrum München. As President and CPO he owns the product roadmap spanning Altra, Cirra, Centaur, and SG-1 Fathom. The C-suite built out between 2022 and 2023 includes Dr. Robert Fink (CTO, author of Helsing's Node Computing architecture), Dr. Antoine Bordes (Chief Scientist, formerly Meta AI Research), Anita Szarek (CFO), Sam Rogerson (COO), and Johannes Boie (CMO and Communications). The Administrative Board is co-chaired by Daniel Ek and Tom Enders — former CEO of EADS and Airbus — whose aerospace-industrial network is a material operational asset as Helsing integrates Grob Aircraft and pursues FCAS partnerships.

Helsing's buying committee has three functional layers. Strategic infrastructure — cloud compute, AI training platforms, ML tooling, and security-cleared infrastructure — is owned by CTO Dr. Robert Fink with input from Chief Scientist Dr. Antoine Bordes. These decisions move deliberately given Helsing's security requirements and custom-build preference; vendors should expect long evaluation cycles and the objection that 'we built that ourselves.'

Product-level tooling and third-party AI or simulation software is owned by CPO Niklas Köhler and his engineering leads. Operational procurement — supply chain, manufacturing equipment, drone components, embedded hardware — reports to COO Sam Rogerson. Financial authority for large contracts sits with CFO Anita Szarek and requires Co-CEO approval above certain thresholds. Outbound government BD is shared between the two Co-CEOs, with Gundbert Scherf typically as the relationship owner for Germany, NATO, and EU institutions.

For enterprise sellers, the most efficient entry points are: Dr. Robert Fink's team for infrastructure and AI tooling; Niklas Köhler for product-integrated software; Sam Rogerson for hardware components and manufacturing supply chain; Gundbert Scherf for strategic platform-level or government BD partnerships. Johannes Boie (CMO) is the right contact for media, analyst relations, and marketing technology vendors.

Helsing has grown from approximately 400 employees in late 2024 to ~900 in mid-2026, organized around product lines rather than geography. The core divisions are: Aerial Systems (HX-2, HF-1, HF-1 production, CA-1 Europa development), Software Platforms (Altra, Cirra, Centaur), Maritime (SG-1 Fathom, Lura, the Plymouth Resilience Factory producing maritime drones), and Ground Systems (added via Keybotic's legged robotics, acquired January 2026).

Three acquisitions in 2025–2026 significantly restructured the organization. Grob Aircraft (June 2025) brought approximately 300 aerospace engineers and a manufacturing site, embedding a hardware engineering organization alongside the original software teams. Blue Ocean (October 2025, Australian AUV developer) added underwater autonomy hardware and operations in the UK and Australia. Keybotic (January 2026, Barcelona-based quadrupedal robots) added a ground robotics team, reflecting Helsing's expansion from aerial and maritime autonomy into multi-domain ground applications. This means Helsing now manages three distinct engineering cultures — AI software, aerospace manufacturing, and robotics hardware — a management complexity that motivated strengthening the COO and CFO roles.

Offices span Munich (HQ, largest headcount, executive team), London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Stockholm (opened April 2026), and operational presence in Estonia (production investment) and Ukraine (customer engagement). The Munich–London–Paris axis covers the three largest NATO defense procurement markets in Europe.