The developer of the interceptor drone guidance app Sky Hunter closed a pre-seed round at a $4 million valuation

Ukrainian defence startup Sky Hunter has raised a pre-seed investment round. This was confirmed to Defender Media by the company’s founder and CEO, Serhii Nazarov. He did not disclose the size of the deal but said the project was valued at $4 million in this round.

Sky Hunter is an application for guiding interceptor drones towards aerial targets, primarily Shahed-type attack drones and reconnaissance UAVs. The system automates the interception process by using real-time radar data to guide strike UAVs to enemy drones.

The project was founded around a year ago and began as a volunteer initiative within Nazarov’s small IT company. The product is now being used by several special units of the Ukrainian Defence Forces. According to the founder, Sky Hunter is already helping them successfully shoot down Shaheds and reconnaissance drones.

How Sky Hunter works

Nazarov explains that today most Shaheds are intercepted in a largely manual mode. An operator sees the target on a radar, roughly estimates its location, launches an interceptor and manually guides it towards the target.

According to the entrepreneur, Sky Hunter’s drone control system automates the targeting process. “The operator sees the target on the radar, designates it in the Sky Hunter app, launches the drone and presses the ‘Start mission’ button,” Nazarov says. “From that point, the interceptor automatically follows the target using real-time radar coordinates until visual contact is established.” At the final distance of 200–300 metres, the pilot takes back manual control and destroys the target.

Nazarov says the system is already integrated with several interceptor drone manufacturers, though their names are not disclosed. He adds that Sky Hunter can be integrated with almost all interceptor models.

Investors and use of funds

According to the Sky Hunter founder, three investors participated in the current round. Two of them invested back in the autumn — the Swedish funds Front Ventures and Hede Capital Partners. A third investor joined later under an NDA.

Nazarov says the funds raised will be directed primarily towards R&D, including expanding the engineering team and further improving the product based on feedback from users in special units.

Sky Hunter’s team currently numbers up to 15 people. This year, Nazarov hopes to grow it to 40–50 employees, with a focus on hiring embedded developers.

In 2025, the company also received a grant from Brave1. The cluster notes that Sky Hunter’s technologies enable rapid threat response, coordination between radars and drones, and mission recording for further analysis and the optimisation of tactics.

“ Importantly, the recent deal involved investment in a Ukrainian legal entity without intermediaries, which has had a highly positive impact on our economy,” the cluster said in a statement. “Brave1 helped investors conclude the deal in accordance with Ukrainian law.”

According to Nazarov, Sky Hunter is currently the only interceptor drone application available on the Brave1 Market marketplace. There it costs one hryvnia — the company distributes the software effectively for free in order to build a user base and collect as much feedback as possible at this stage. In the future, Sky Hunter plans to sell licences for its software.

Looking ahead, Sky Hunter plans to develop a terminal guidance solution that would fully automate the entire interception cycle — including the shootdown. To achieve this, the company plans to raise a seed round. Nazarov has already begun fundraising efforts.