Right this moment marks three years since Russia’s unlawful, unprovoked, and brutal invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian individuals have heroically fought the warfare with grit and willpower, however they’ve additionally, in opposition to the percentages, innovated on and off the battlefield.
Along with establishing a protection tech initiative known as BRAVE1, the nation has additionally hosted tech conferences like IT Enviornment, even amidst the issues brought on by the warfare.
Ukraine is now the chief in AI-enabled drone know-how and develop into a magnet for Western corporations and traders eager to help the nation, and Europe. However is it sufficient? If the latest information is something to go by, Europe is just now waking as much as the truth that it must get nearer than ever earlier than to Ukraine whether it is to keep up and defend its personal security.
A latest report by VC investor Lakestar warned that Europe is dealing with its greatest menace in a long time. Observers estimate it would take Russia 2-8 years to rebuild its military to the purpose the place it might dare to assault Europe, however European NATO allies are usually not doing sufficient to construct a reputable deterrent, and have even scaled again protection spending by 30% because the Nineteen Nineties. In the meantime, the business’s present manufacturing and imports are solely a fraction of inventory ranges. On the similar time, European funding in R&D is just one/10 of the spending within the US.
Talking completely to Lakestar’s Klaus Hommels eventually month’s DLD convention, Hommels informed information.killnetswitch: “You don’t must have a magic ball to see that the Europeans must put some huge cash into the protection sector.” For that to occur, he mentioned, entrepreneurs must see that there’s funding obtainable, then VCs will begin to see startups seem: “Secondly, you wanted some success tales, which you now have.”
“On the finish, it’s about sovereignty. Should you don’t equip, in the event you don’t make investments, then you definitely gained’t have that sovereignty,” he added.
That seems to be taking place. With Trump signaling that Europe goes to be by itself, European protection Primes are surging, whereas European VCs are investing.
A billion {dollars} of enterprise capital was invested into European protection know-how in 2024, a primary for the continent, and a five-fold improve since 2018, based on Dealroom. VC funding into defense-related tech is outpacing some other sort of funding, and the majority of that’s going into startups in Germany, the U.Ok., and France.
We additionally now have specialist protection tech funds, with the €1bn Nato Innovation Fund, and the brand new Estonian SmartCap €100m protection fund. Helsing, the UK/German protection tech startup backed by Spotify’s Daniel Ek and others, is now producing strike drones at quantity and plans to construct a number of factories round Europe.
However in an effort to put money into the suitable know-how, Europe must look to Ukraine, as a result of that’s the place future wars are being fought proper now.
information.killnetswitch just lately put a name out for Ukrainian dual-use and protection tech startups to replace us on what they’re engaged on. Beneath is what they despatched us, in their very own phrases.
Technary
Twin-Use: “Deal with the challenges of intercepting low-flying drones which might be undetectable by radar. Accepted by the Major Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Protection of Ukraine. Civilians use an app to report drones, rockets, or planes on to the army.
Founders: Hennadii Suldyn, Andrii Kosiak
Funding: Bootsrapped
Dropla
Twin-Use: De-mining operations is tough. This Ukrainian-Danish firm has delivered within the first stage of ESA ARTES program. It makes use of a fleet of UAVs outfitted with Multi-modal sensors after which use low cost UGVs (Unmanned floor automobile) to substantiate the non-contaminated areas. Has a contract with the European Area Company, been by a EU robotics accelerator, and supported by Export Import Fund of Denmark. Now has the most important coaching dataset for landmine detection in Europe. 1m EUR in funding from Danish and German Angels.
SOC Prime
Twin-Use: “AI agnostic compute environment friendly line pace collective menace detection ecosystem.” This competes with SnapAttack, Cyborg Safety and CardinalOps. A big non-public dataset of 1 million detection guidelines and 13,000 labels. Aimed on the cyber protection of corporations who’ve professional innovation specifically area of interest (DFIR, CTEM, SIEM and so forth).
Founders: Andrii Bezverkhyi, Alex Bredikhin and Ruslan Mikhalov
Funding: $11.5 from DNX Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, Rembrandt Capital, Atlantic Bridge, J-Ventures, Tom Reilly, Greg Martin, Slavik Markovich, Mahendra Ramsinghani.
Swarmer
Twin-Use: This “is for working drone swarms. “In at the moment’s battlefield, working drone swarms is manpower-intensive and inefficient. Conventional approaches demand a swarm of pilots. However Single operators are overloaded.” Lately returned from SRI Deep Tech Accelerator program in El Segundo. Finalists of DIGITALEUROPE’s Future Unicorn Awards as a Twin-Use Tech firm in Brussels. Battlefield-proven since August 2023 with over 32,000 fight missions to this point.
Founder: Sergey Kuprienko (Led AI and laptop imaginative and prescient crew at Ring.com (500+ individuals). Alex Fink (former VP Eng at Orah VR
Funding: $3 million
Kraken
Twin use: “Kraken is a multi-usage hybrid USV/UUV drone with AI capabilities for persistent and long-range underwater infrastructure monitoring and protection functions, enabling automated missions in GPS-denied setting with out direct management from the operator.”
Founders: Pavel Panasjuk, Oleksandr Kvasha
Skyeton
Twin-Use: “A gliding munition, and a line of GLE, multi-mission gimbals. Raybird now can detect, illuminate, strike, return, and rearm – multi function mission cycle.A sub-25 kg EW-sustainable platform in a position to carry a loitering munition deep into the enemy’s territory. Geared up with a long-range laser designator. The laser illumination system permits exact focusing on for guided munitions and artillery. Already been examined in fight situations and is now working on the entrance strains.
Ailand Techniques
Twin-Use: Agriculture drones but in addition Landmine detection utilizing drones, making demining operations sooner, cheaper, and safer.
Founders: Dmytro Titov, Heorhii Shakula
Funding: $425K by way of D3 Fund, Nezlamni Fund, Google for Startups
Anima
Twin-Use: Anima addresses the inefficiencies of conventional psychological well being assessments, which have excessive false-positive charges (30–80%) and depend on subjective self-reporting, resulting in stigma, underreporting, misdiagnosis, and pointless therapies. It has accomplished PTSD and concussion analysis and at the moment are creating a product on this space.
Funding: Anima has raised $340,000 in pre-seed funding and is at present in search of an extra $500,000 to help development and improvement.
Founders: Roman Havrysh, Sergiy Danylov
Aspichi
Twin-Use: We’re creating a VR utility with schooling and psychological well being practices to fight PTSD.
Founders:Viktor Samoilenko, Max Goncharuk
Funding: 780K SMRK.vc, ZAS Ventures, Catalyst Impression Investor Membership Syndicate
FuelWell
Twin-Use: A plug-in machine, gas promotor, put in on the gas system of inside combustion engines. It reduces gas consumption by as much as 20% and CO2 emission by 15%, PM soot particles by 90%. The typical pickup truck loses as much as $1000 a 12 months from poor combustion. A truck in logistics loses as much as $11,000 a 12 months. Chosen to take part within the EIT Mobility acceleration.
Funding: $550,000
Laser Guard Techniques
Twin-Use: We’re fixing the issue of susceptible safety in opposition to drone assaults and floor intrusions by creating an autonomous counter-intrusion platform that detects, tracks, and neutralizes aerial and floor threats utilizing AI, thermal imaginative and prescient, and superior protection mechanisms. “Our techniques are actively defending the Kyiv Hydroelectric Station and securing essential areas within the north and south of Ukraine from drone assaults.”
Founders: Pavlo Potichnyi, Oleksandr, Kyrylo.
HIMERA
Twin-Use: Present battlefield communication techniques by no means mix related, dependable, battle-proven performance with affordability and scalability. This results in a scenario the place the tactical comms obtainable to troops are unreliable or usually unavailable in ample numbers, resulting in expensive inefficiencies in fight operations. Utilizing off-the-shelf elements, we ship a tactical transmission system with safe, battle-proven performance, together with AES-256 encryption, MANET, and frequency-hopping. The Boryviter Heart of Excellence in Ukraine which skilled greater than 27,000 Ukrainian troopers to pilot drones and use communications gear included HIMERA tactical communication merchandise into its common coaching program this week.
Funding: $1.2M Freedom Fund VC, United Angels Community, Andriy Skoropad, Arnaud Dassier, Inexperienced Flag Ventures, Nezlamni Fund, Dave Morgan.
Technique Drive Resolution
Protection Tech: Mafka AI solves the issue of handbook drone operation limitations by enabling absolutely autonomous missions which might be proof against digital warfare (EW) and GPS-independent. We simulate a pilot’s conduct based mostly on the mission purpose and environmental evaluation. Our AI handles route planning, impediment avoidance, and goal detection, pondering like an actual pilot executing a job. It eliminates the necessity for a talented operator, decreasing human error, response time, and operational prices, whereas making certain drones can execute missions even in hostile environments. Accomplished the SRI College acceleration program within the U.S. in January. Completed a bootcamp with MITS Capital. At present elevating investments to begin manufacturing.”
Funding: Obtained a grant from Brave1.
Founders: Andrii Honcharyk, Ihor Lutsenko
Terminal Autonomy
Protection: Secured largest nato contract for loitering munitions. Ai enabled loitering munitions. Scaled to the biggest nato contract for this class, first deadly drone procured by Germany.
Buntar Aerospace
Protection: “Buntar Aerospace delivers a holistic answer that mixes UAV survivability with AI-driven operational help, making certain that reconnaissance groups can collect actionable intelligence effectively and safely, even in essentially the most difficult environments.” We’ve simply launched a brand new mannequin with twice the flight time. Buntar 3 is a UAV designed for long-duration flights and secure efficiency in difficult situations. Buntar Copilot is an AI-driven management and coordination system that allows a “carousel” operation mannequin.
Funding: $3.2M backed by a mixture of enterprise funds and personal traders from america, Ukraine, and Europe. D3, Sukna Ventures, Nezlamni and others.
NORDA Dynamics
Protection: Low FPV effectivity. Developed autonomy modules for all sorts of mass market UAVs. It will increase effectivity from 30 to 80% which might save Ukraine roughly $750M yearly. Founders principally engineers, all Ukrainians with over 10 years of expertise serving to Ukrainian armed forces.
Funding: MITS capital, few angel funds, $250K
Readability
Protection: Analyzes giant quantities of aerial reconnaissance knowledge from the battlefield. Received the pitching contest on the DEFENSE TECH INNOVATIONS FORUM 2025 in Kyiv, Trailblazers class. Makes use of AI mannequin skilled on the precise battlefield reconnaissance knowledge gathered by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Founders: Alex Borodin
OpenMinds
Protection: Russia and China spend round $12B yearly to unfold their affect and propaganda worldwide, disrupt elections, and manipulate public opinion. OpenMinds helps counter these threats. We help diplomatic and nationwide security sectors with menace intelligence and evaluation of high-risk and censored environments, detecting affect operations and serving to execute the counter-influence response.”SHowecased on the Munich Safety Convention. Utilizing tens of millions of information factors— from media landscapes to real-world behavioral knowledge — we construct proprietary machine studying fashions to detect threats and ship options for stopping the unfold of authoritarian affect.”
Funding: Bootstrapped however are planning to open a spherical of funding quickly.
TELETACTICA
Protection: “Dependable, real-time video and knowledge transmission in high-threat environments faces extreme challenges that reach far past technical glitches. We’ve developed a dependable communication system combining customized {hardware} with proprietary software program. Designed with improved reliability below jamming situations; light-weight, transportable modems suitable with numerous techniques; customized antennas.
Funding: $55,000, MITS Capital and angel traders. Now we’re actively partaking with further funds to shut our SEED spherical as rapidly as doable.
ARMOR
Protection: Fast, exact, and secure engagement of enemy targets from a large rage of weapons whereas considerably saving ammunition. Pitched on the Protection Tech Improvements Discussion board 2025 (Brave1) occasion and obtained an award as the most effective startup within the Seed class. Conventional strategies of artillery and weapons techniques are inefficient. Our software program is mixed with a daily pill to neutralise enemy targets in simply 1 to three photographs and reduces ammunition utilization by over 10 occasions.
Founders: Oleksii Havrysh, Kostiantyn Brendel, Andrii Moruha
Farsight Imaginative and prescient
Protection: It’s a problem remodeling knowledge from reconnaissance UAVs into digital maps and 3D fashions. Farsight Imaginative and prescient converts flight footage into digital 2D and 3D twins for real-time intelligence, in GNSS-denied setting, making analytics and situational consciousness handy and accessible whereas saving effort and time.
Funding: 774000 EUR from Darkstar VC Fund and Freedom Fund VC
Ark Robotics
Protection: Ark Robotics builds Frontier, a tactical autonomy platform that enables robotic fleets to combine seamlessly into safe networks, enabling real-time coordination, autonomy, and resilience in opposition to digital warfare. Deployed in over 20 frontline models together with Ukraine’s Unmanned Techniques Forces. Strategic partnerships with NATO companies, with growth into Poland, Estonia, and different European protection markets.
Funding: Backed by early-stage deep-tech and defense-focused traders. Particular names below NDA.
Vidar Techniques
Protection: Acoustic sensors for detecting enemy artillery. The army makes use of such techniques to rapidly detect and destroy Russian artillery positions, primarily mortars. Vidar’s techniques use triangulation and AI. Every microphone hears the identical shot in its personal approach and determines the course relative to its place. The pc then collects knowledge on the course of the explosion from three or extra microphones and overlays it on a map.
Funding: $0.7M+ , Presto Ventures, a number of smaller funds, a number of angels.
Biostream
Protection: Downside: As much as 50% of battlefield deaths might be prevented with well timed intervention, however there isn’t any approach to monitor a soldier’s situation or location in actual time. Resolution: A wearable machine that detects early indicators of hemorrhage, dehydration, and different essential situations, sending safe geolocalized alerts to close by medics for sooner response.
Founders: Mikita Zabuga, Sophia Metz, Chris Mussett
