20VC: The Future of War: Are We Ready & What Needs to Be Done | China, Russia and Trump: What Happens Now | Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | Torsten Reil, Co-Founder @ Helsing
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2024
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Torsten Reil is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Helsing, a new type of defence company providing artificial intelligence to protect our democracies. Torsten has raised over $825M from the likes of Prima Materia, Elad Gil, Accel and General Catalyst. Previously Torsten founded NaturalMotion, one of the UK's most successful games and technology start-ups. Torsten was named as one of MIT's Top 100 Innovators and is a member of the Munich Security Conference Innovation Board.
In Today’s Episode with Torsten Reil We Discuss:
1. The World Around Us: China, Russia and Trump:
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What will happen between China and Taiwan?
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What will happen between Russia and Ukraine?
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How will a Trump administration impact the US’ commitment to fund European defence?
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What conflict do people not pay enough attention to in the world today?
2. Are We Ready and What Needs to Be Done:
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Are the west ready to fight against our adversaries as we stand today?
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What do we need to do to equip ourselves?
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What needs to change in our defence budgets? Where do they need to go?
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How does the procurement process for defence need to change?
3. The Future of War:
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Why does Torsten believe the future of war is contactless?
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In the next wave of defence, what are the most important elements for allies to own? What elements concern Torsten the most?
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What role does AI and autonomous play in the future of war?
4. Is Europe F********:
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Why does Torsten believe that Europe’s biggest problem is ambition not capital?
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Why does Torsten believ that we put too much weight on the location in which companies are founded? Why does it not matter?
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How does Torsten respond to the statement that we do not have the depth of experienced talent in Europe to recruit?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When we started Helsing in March 2021, we actually put one of our slides that we thought there were going to be two galvanizing events. |
| 0:06.6 | One of them was going to be an invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the other one an invasion of Taiwan by China. |
| 0:11.4 | There is a big wave coming towards us. It is autonomy and software in defense. |
| 0:15.1 | And it's unstoppable. The thing that we have to avoid is the Tesla moment for the defense sector. |
| 0:20.1 | If we collectively, including the |
| 0:22.0 | primes, don't understand that and don't adapt, the same thing is going to happen to defense |
| 0:26.3 | has happened to the car industry. Where are we in three years with Russia, Ukraine? What happens |
| 0:30.4 | in China and Taiwan? Again, I think it's plausible that there will be... |
| 0:33.5 | I mean, my word, those intros have gotten good. This is Harry Stebbings and I am so excited to welcome one of the great entrepreneurs of Europe to hot seat today, Torsten Ryle. |
| 0:44.3 | Torsten is the co-founder and co-CEO of Helsing, a new type of defense company providing artificial intelligence to protect our democracies. |
| 0:52.6 | Torsten has raised over $825 million from the lights of premium material, Eli Gill, Excel and |
| 0:59.6 | general catalyst, to name a few. |
| 1:01.3 | I also had wanted to make this show happen for a long time. |
| 1:04.5 | Torsten does not do podcasts, and so this one meant a huge amount to me. |
| 1:08.4 | But before we dive in, what do Henry Ford and AI have in common? |
| 1:12.4 | Neither could change the world without automation. |
| 1:15.2 | In the future, there will be two types of businesses, those that have automated and those |
| 1:19.7 | that wish they had. |
| 1:21.1 | UiPath, the undisputed leader in automation, is taking us into the era of agenetic automation. |
| 1:30.2 | UiPath's new AI agents don't just follow rules. They think, they make decisions, they work alongside the world's most powerful software robots |
| 1:36.0 | already trusted by over 10,000 businesses. If agentic automation sounds new, just think of UiPath as |
| 1:42.9 | more growth, not more overhead platform, |
... |
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