Helsing

Defense · Drones · AI

Partnership

Rakuten reportedly brokers Helsing's push into Japan's military

It reveals how loosened export rules are pulling non-defense firms into brokering roles for foreign weapons makers eyeing Tokyo's rearmament budget.

• Rakuten is brokering a deal to bring Helsing's HX-2 AI strike drone to Japan, with the Ground Self-Defense Force field-testing the system through the end of September 2026.
• Helsing, founded in Munich in 2021, has become one of Europe's most valuable defense-AI firms, supplying military software and attack drones to Ukraine since Russia's invasion.
• Rakuten is acting as Helsing's point of contact with Japan's government, handling negotiations and regulatory approvals — a role it already played earlier this year helping Ukrainian drone-software firm Swarmer demo tech to Japan's military.
• Goldman Sachs backed Helsing at an $18 billion valuation last month, underscoring investor appetite for European defense-AI startups.
• Japan eased decades of arms-export restrictions and is ramping up defense spending to counter an increasingly assertive China, opening its historically closed procurement market to foreign drone makers.
• Rakuten shares rose as much as 3.5% in Tokyo trading after the partnership was reported.
• The deal shows how Japan's rearmament is drawing non-traditional players like e-commerce firms into defense brokering, as European AI-drone makers race to capture a newly opened allied market.