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Torsten Reil

Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Helsing · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutivescientistinvestor@torstenreil ↗LinkedIn ↗helsing.ai ↗

Torsten Reil is the co-founder and co-CEO of Helsing, a European defense technology unicorn that develops artificial intelligence software and autonomous defense systems. Previously, he researched complex systems at Oxford and founded the animation and gaming tech startup NaturalMotion, which was acquired by Zynga.

37statements → 19claims → 7claims resolved → 71%fully supported → 3.89/5average certainty → 2.73/5average debate potential → 4.2/5argument clarity · the sources → 15said about them ↓

5 supported 2 partly supported 0 contradicted 12 not checkable as stated how the 19 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

10 predictions · 9 assertions · 3 opinions · 12 insights · 2 disclosures · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 19 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 7 are resolved, and 12 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Torsten argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Prediction Held up
Torsten Reil: Single operators will control autonomous drone swarms by 2025
“At the moment you have one operator operating one drone. That's going to happen It's going to happen quite quickly that that's going to change, and you'll be able, as a single operator, to control multiple drones, and that trend, I think, we'll see playing out…”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 42:19 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
83% certainty 3
75% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

4.2 / 5 directness 4.4 · coherence 4.6 · precision 4 · compression 3.6

redirected or did not address 2 of 45 assessed questions (4%). Watch them ▸

This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

278 words/min while actually speaking · 30.4 um and uh per 1k words · 33.2 false starts per 1k · 36% of pauses land inside a clause

English is their second language (first language: German). These numbers measure fluency in English. They do not measure thought; the argument clarity score above is read from substance alone.

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 12,850 words across 1 episode of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 5/10
pushed back at the host 4/10
setup questions received 30%

Everything Torsten Reil said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Prediction Not checkable as stated
Torsten Reil: Foreign allies will eventually lack capability to protect Europe
“Over time there just won't be, I think the capability even of partners and as it looks to also not the willingness to do so.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 21:47 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Torsten Reil: Founder ambition matters more than regulatory or tax policy
“I actually think none of this stuff really matters that much. I think what really matters is founder quality and founder ambition. So I think for a country to be successful, they should attract the most aggressive founders. And everything else is a lot less im…”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 1:04:32 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Torsten Reil: A Russian threat to NATO's eastern flank is extremely plausible
“I think the threat is extremely plausible in the next few years.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 1:06:12 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Torsten Reil: A China-Taiwan conflict will occur much sooner than 10 years
“I, again, I think it's plausible that there will be a conflict. When? It's hard to tell. I don't think it's 10 years away if it happens. It's probably quite a lot sooner than that.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 1:06:27 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Torsten Reil: Exceptional teams work best without process, stand-ups, or deadline forecasts
“I used to think that, that you needed to make sure that there was always a degree of process when teams work together on something and including something new. I have now learned that it's possible with exceptional people to let's, let's just let them get on w…”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 1:11:32 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Torsten Reil: If running ByteDance, he would immediately shut down TikTok
“Probably ByteDance, and I would shut down TikTok immediately.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 1:12:17 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Helsing's 2021 pitch deck predicted invasions of Ukraine and Taiwan
“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. One of them was going to be an invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the other one an invasion of Taiwan by China.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 0:00 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Defense primes risk a Tesla-style disruption if they ignore software
“The thing that we have to avoid is the Tesla moment for the defense sector. If we collectively, including the primes, don't understand that and don't adapt, the same thing is going to happen to defense, As happened to the car industry.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 0:17 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Torsten Reil: Four exceptional engineers outperform eight good ones for less money
“You can achieve a lot in particular around software with three to four exceptional people. And so we'd rather have a team of four exceptional people than eight good people. It makes everything easier. It's also cheaper, by the way, even though you pay above ma…”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 7:14 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Torsten Reil: Needing weekly 1-on-1s with senior leaders signals operational problems
“The people I work with are usually senior and don't need that much guidance. If I need a one-to-one with them every week, I think something's probably gonna, is probably going wrong.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 9:13 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Torsten Reil: Eliminating 1-on-1 meetings had zero negative impact on performance
“I used to do them religiously, by the way, I just stopped doing them. It hasn't had a negative impact.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 9:30 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Torsten Reil: Most Western drone companies build low-volume, boutique hardware
“Most drone companies right now build small numbers of quite exquisite drones. They're quite expensive. You know, it's sometimes a bit of a boutique business where people really care about the hardware and the carbon and everything else.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 32:40 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Torsten Reil: Deterrence requires software speed and tens of thousands of drones
“You can counter them but you can't counter them with the current systems that we have. You can't just have exquisite, exquisite systems like tanks or artillery guns that are not particularly well connected that take a while to take a shot. You need to work bas…”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 40:35 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Held up
Torsten Reil: Single operators will control autonomous drone swarms by 2025
“At the moment you have one operator operating one drone. That's going to happen It's going to happen quite quickly that that's going to change, and you'll be able, as a single operator, to control multiple drones, and that trend, I think, we'll see playing out…”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 42:19 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Torsten Reil: Cheap strike drones make expensive tanks and artillery obsolete
“If you just think about the economics of it, you still have a really strong asymmetry, and so it'll become harder and harder unless you find a way to really counteract these systems, which is hard, to send expensive tanks and artillery systems into battle when…”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 44:45 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Torsten Reil: Deploying human soldiers against mass AI drones will become impossible
“You'll, it'll be impossible, and I think ethically extremely problematic, to send humans into a battlefield that is essentially Facing large numbers of autonomous intelligence systems on the other side.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 45:23 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Supported
Torsten Reil: Traditional defense primes spend less than 5% on internal R&D
“In general, they're not incentivized to Spend a lot of their own money on R&D. I think it's probably less than five percent or so.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 48:07 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Torsten Reil: Extremely few new defense prime contractors will emerge
“A very small number. An extremely small number.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 49:20 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Torsten Reil: Long-tail defense startup investments will lose value
“I think for some of the more fragmented tail, I think they're maybe not to zero, but I think they're going, going to go down.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 50:58 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Torsten Reil: VC defense startups cannot all become primes due to talent
“So, so all of these companies would be competing for a very small pool of people, and I, it's just impossible to have turned them all into primes. It will just, it just not gonna happen.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 53:03 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Torsten Reil: Performance improvement plans actually work and turn employees around
“Well, I, I've seen actually quite a lot of people turn around, including at my previous company as well, in, on a performance management plan. So it's not a foregone conclusion.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 12:12 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Torsten Reil: Constant hiring pressure is necessary to manage low performers out
“You need to basically always have pressure on the pipeline of good people coming in, in order to be able to manage other people out, and so that you end up with a pool of people that are amazing.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 13:45 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Torsten Reil: Heavy capital lets defense startups bypass grants for major contracts
“And the second thing that allowed us to do is, is to not go for innovation you know, projects in defense for incubators and, you know, little grants here and there, but because we were quite well funded, we could go for programs of record. So the official larg…”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 15:39 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Torsten Reil: Defense tech companies must build ethical standards beyond export law
“But I think if you want to have people really engaged with these kinds of technologies and capabilities in a company, you need to go further than that. You need to build a view that goes beyond just what is quite static export law.”
Torsten Reil Dec 11, 2024 ▶ 29:34 Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E1237 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Show 13statements(13 left)

The other half of the tape: Torsten Reil's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 14 times in 5 episodes on 20VC. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 11Taavet Hinrikus 3

Statements about Torsten Reil, by other people (1)

Prediction Not checkable as stated
Freise: Other defense leaders will emerge alongside Helsing's founder within five years
“Torsten is, is the best, but in five years time, we look back and say, of course, Torsten couldn't have done it all by himself. There will be more, there will be others.”
Philipp Freise Jun 30, 2025 ▶ 43:52 KKR's Head of European PE, Philipp Freise: Do Andreessen & General Catalyst Scare KKR? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0051102202420252026episodesmentions
012202420252026episodes it came up in
002.5152202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 1 mention in 1 episode
2025 9 mentions in 2 episodes 5 per episode
2024 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Torsten Reil, Helsing Founder: Raising $828M to Build the Defence Champion of Europe | E12 Dec 11, 2024 58m
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