Ukrainian defense tech startup hits $6 billion valuation as investors bet on battle-tested drones

Ukrainian defense technology company UFORCE has raised $700 million in a funding round valuing it at $6 billion, as investor interest grows in autonomous weapons systems tested on the battlefield in Ukraine.

UFORCE, which develops unmanned aerial, maritime, and land systems as well as AI software used to coordinate them, raised $50 million at a valuation of around $1 billion in March.

The Series A round was co-led by Valor Equity Partners and the U.K.'s National Wealth Fund, with participation from investors across Silicon Valley, Europe and Asia, the company announced Thursday.

UFORCE CEO Oleg Rogynskyy told CNBC that the company's bookings have more than doubled over the past year, from a base of several hundred million dollars, but declined to disclose more exact figures.

He said the company's financial performance justified its latest valuation, adding that UFORCE had received offers from investors at even higher valuations.

"We were getting offers with much higher valuation, but we chose this one because of Valor and the rest of the investors," Rogynskyy said. “In terms of valuation to bookings, valuation to revenue, this is actually not an aggressive valuation.”

The company plans to use the new funding to scale manufacturing in Ukraine and in allied countries, including the U.S., Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Startups across NATO and allied countries raised $27.1 billion through September, nearly double the total for all of 2025, according to an October report from Dealroom and Resilience Media.

Rogynskyy said UFORCE had already manufactured ten times as many unmanned surface vessels as the competitors it typically measures itself against, and was looking to increase manufacturing capacity substantially. CNBC could not independently verify the comparison.

The expansion comes as militaries around the world look to learn from the war in Ukraine, where relatively inexpensive drones are challenging the role of traditional military equipment like crewed tanks or fighter jets.

UFORCE says its NEMESIS drones have completed more than 300,000 combat flights, while its MAGURA naval vessels have contributed to the destruction of more than a dozen Russian warships in the Black Sea.

Rogynskyy said the company was already working with several NATO countries, but declined to identify its customers or disclose how much of its production was being supplied to Ukraine versus overseas markets.

Asked whether growing international demand could divert supplies away from Ukraine, he said the company was committed to meeting Ukrainian military requirements first.

"We are very careful about that, and we make sure that we deliver on all Ukrainian needs first and foremost," he said.