Dwarf Engineering won the IT Arena 2025 defence startup competition, with BabAI taking second place and Bravo Dynamics coming in third

From 26 to 28 September, Lviv hosted the IT Arena 2025 conference, where startups traditionally competed for cash prizes and investor attention. Defence technologies and cybersecurity had their own dedicated track within the Startup Competition. The prize fund of $30,000 was shared between Dwarf Engineering, BabAI, and Bravo Dynamics.

First place and $15,000 went to Dwarf Engineering, which showcased its B2B integration platform at IT Arena 2025, designed to connect software developers working on drone autonomy with manufacturing plants. The company is also developing its own autonomy module, Narsil. Just a week earlier, the project had won a prize at the Battle Proven startup competition, held during the Brave1 Defense Tech Valley.

Second place and a $10,000 prize went to BabAI, a developer of an active protection system for reconnaissance drones against FPV attacks. Its AI-driven technology enables autonomous evasive manoeuvres, increasing the survivability of drones. The system has already been tested in combat and integrated with two leading drone manufacturers and one laser platform. As Defender Media reported earlier, Oppenheimer Acceleration invested $125,000 in BabAI.

The $5,000 prize was awarded to Bravo Dynamics, the team behind the Phantom 3.0 mesh system for ground robots. The system ensures stable communications without aerial relays, even in challenging EW environments.