Spotify founder Daniel Ek invests millions in Helsing – and also has these 3 startups in his portfolio
Spotify founder Daniel Ek has expanded his portfolio far beyond the music industry. Here are four exciting investments.
What do music streaming, war drones, and student shared apartments have in common? Actually, nothing. Except that they're all in Spotify founder Daniel Ek's portfolio.
The Swedish entrepreneur has invested in a number of different startups— most recently in the defense startup Helsing. His net worth is estimated by Forbes at nearly eight billion dollars.
Here is Ek’s personal investment wrap:
With Spotify, Ek not only scans the music tastes of its users, but also, with another investment, their bodies.
With his Stockholm-based health tech start-up Neko Health, he develops AI-supported full-body scanners for preventive healthcare.
After a financing round of $260 million at a valuation of $1.8 billion, the company now wants to conquer the US market.
The company's first clinics are located in London and Stockholm. A health check costs approximately €240.
Helsing is a Munich-based defense startup that develops AI-based software for military applications.
Ek first invested in the company in 2021, capitalizing on strong interest in the defense sector to lead the recently announced €600 million financing round.
This values the company at 12 billion euros and makes it one of the most valuable tech start-ups in Europe.
Although Ek dropped out of his studies at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm after only a few weeks, he seems to have retained a big heart for students.
In February 2016, he invested over 60 million US dollars in the start-up Student.com together with his Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon and other investors such as Hugo Barra from Xiaomi.
The platform aims to simplify the housing search for international students who need to secure accommodation for their studies remotely.
According to the company, there are already 750,000 beds near more than 1,000 universities.
The Swedish deep-tech startup focuses on developing novel materials for decarbonizing industry. The company has developed a technology that converts CO2 into valuable, durable materials for various industries.
With a $20 million Series A funding round, Unearthly Materials has attracted the attention of many investors, including Ek, who invested through his company Prima Materia, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
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