$3 million in grants for 50 startups: VD Accelerator opens applications for its third bootcamp

VD Accelerator, part of the Victory Drones ecosystem, is inviting Ukrainian defence tech startups to apply for its third bootcamp cohort. Fifty selected teams will have their tuition fully covered and receive non-dilutive grants of $60,000 each to develop or refine their projects.

For an accelerator working with Ukrainian defence projects, this represents an unprecedentedly large grant pool. By comparison, the second cohort included 20 startups, each receiving $5,000.

Victory Drones CEO Mariia Berlinska did not comment on the sharp increase in funding but said she would share further details with Defender Media in March.

Program details

To participate, you must complete this form by 2 March. Selected participants will receive assistance in understanding the following processes:

• Organisational form of the enterprise, legal issues, unit economics
• Team building, screening of potential employees and partners
• Organisation of the production process, safety, quality control, and testing
• Procurement of components, localisation and alternatives, logistics development
• Features of the combat use of drones
• Formation of a research department
• Fundraising and crowdfunding: search for funding, preparation of a pitch deck and elevator speech
• Approval for operation, codification, transfer of products to charitable foundations and the state.

Training will be conducted jointly with experienced manufacturers and engineers, government representatives and trainers. The boot camp will last one month in a hybrid format, with mainly online sessions and offline team meetings in Kyiv.

VD Accelerator has previously held two similar bootcamps. The most recent one took place in early 2025 in partnership with MITS Capital. Among the participants was Zmiyar, a manufacturer whose product enables even old Soviet-era mines to be turned into “smart” munitions.