Hundreds of people from France to Saudi Arabia have inquired about this ‘luxury’ bomb shelter that costs up to $500,000 since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — see inside

Underground shelter manufacturers are reporting a surge in customer inquiries since Russia invaded Ukraine, including Artemis Protection, a high-end bunker company based in France.

The company’s founder Mathieu Séranne said he has received 500 bomb shelter inquiries over the past two weeks. According to screenshots viewed by Insider, the company has received 30 requests in the past 24 hours.

Prices for the company’s 236 square-foot “premium” pre-fab bunkers start at $300,000 and can go up to more than $500,000 depending on personalization and total square footage.

Customers are willing to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into bunkers because “our most basic instinct as human beings is survival,” Séranne told Insider.

The ready-to-use shelter “is as comfortable as a mountain chalet and strong enough to withstand any major event, anywhere in the world,” he said.

“When people around the world see a nuclear superpower acting with such cruelty and so little logic it shocks them and reminds them that peace is a fragile balance,” Séranne said, referencing the impact Russia’s invasion has had on the market.

85% of Artemis Protection’s clients come from France. The remaining orders have come from Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Poland — countries that are close in proximity to the Belarusian border.

Séranne said there has recently been strong demand from Qatar and Saudi Arabia as well.

Artemis Protection’s initial design goal was to “redefine the ‘image’ of the bunker, to make it warm and welcoming.” Then, as orders flooded in, Séranne decided to create a smaller model that could be produced in three weeks.

Below is a digital rendering of the 65-square foot “standard” bunker, priced at $162,000 and able to shelter four people during an attack.

“We had to completely rethink our commercial strategy because of the diversity of the requests and the socio-economic category of the prospects who contacted us,” Séranne told Insider.

According to traffic data viewed by Insider, the vast majority of visitors to Artemis Protection’s website come from Googling keywords such as “bunker” or “fallout shelter.”

“This is showing a real concern,” Séranne said. “They are looking by themselves to get a shelter.”

While site traffic peaked on March 11, Séranne predicts the market for bunkers will continue to grow and become more accessible as global tensions with Russia persist.