Swarmer, developer of AI solutions for drone swarms, raises $15M — a record for a Ukrainian defence startup scene

The Ukrainian-founded startup Swarmer, which develops AI solutions for managing drone swarms, has raised $15 million in investment. This is the largest investment to date among Ukrainian defence startups that have attracted external funding. The news was announced in a press release shared with Defender Media by the team.

Swarmer develops software that enables the simultaneous control of up to 25 drones. The company’s product allows a group of UAVs to operate with the operator’s role limited to selecting a target and granting permission to strike. “Our software has proven itself in combat through tens of thousands of missions,” Swarmer founder and CEO Serhiy Kupriyenko is quoted as saying in the release.

He added that the funds raised will allow the company to scale and equip every unmanned system in Ukraine and partner countries with advanced swarm capabilities. “Western democracies should be able to deploy as many drones and robots as they can produce—without being constrained by the number of trained pilots,” Kupriyenko said.

The record-breaking round was led by US investment firm Broadband Capital Investments. “Swarmer’s rapid pace of innovation is driven by real-world battlefield experience, enabling them to iterate and refine their AI and autonomy systems faster than traditional defence companies,” said Michael Rapp, Managing Partner at Broadband Capital Investments. In his view, with global drone production on the rise, Swarmer is well-positioned to become the best-in-class software layer powering the next generation of autonomous systems.

Other participants in the Series A round included existing Swarmer investors: US defence tech company R-G.AI, and US funds Radius Capital, Green Flag Ventures, D3 Ventures, and Network VC.

The press release also cites First Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who expressed hope that the Swarmer case will serve as a signal to other investors and a driver for bringing more of Ukraine’s most effective technologies into the hands of its defenders.

Earlier, Defender Media reported that Ukrainian signal-tracking developer Falcons secured investment from Green Flag Ventures.