UK-based drone autonomy developer Occam raises €3M and expands into Ukraine

UK defence startup Occam, which develops autonomy systems for drones, has announced a €3 million investment round and the start of cooperation with Ukrainian drone manufacturers. The company shared the details in a press release with Defender Media.

Occam was founded by British engineer Guy Wainwright, who has worked with machine learning and robotics for more than 20 years. The startup builds software that enables off-the-shelf drones to operate autonomously without modifications to the hardware.

The British project is part of Test in Ukraine, a programme launched by the state defence tech cluster Brave1 in summer 2025. The initiative allows foreign companies to test their solutions in real-world field conditions and receive feedback from Ukrainian military units.

According to the startup, its systems were successfully tested in Ukraine in January 2026. Brave1 is now facilitating cooperation between Occam and Ukrainian drone manufacturers. The next stage will be a proof of concept based on a Ukrainian drone platform adapted to complex weather and battlefield conditions.

The newly raised funding will support the deployment of Occam’s technology in Ukraine. The €3 million pre-seed round was led by Czech fund Presto Tech Horizons, with participation from Antler, Freedom Fund, TYR.vc and several defence-sector angel investors.

Occam co-founder and CEO Guy Wainwright says Ukraine currently represents the world’s most challenging environment for autonomous systems. “Everything is tested here: latency, reliability, operator workload and decision-making processes,” he said. “Our work at Occam is shaped by this reality and refined in field conditions.”

Outside Ukraine, the company already has strategic partnerships with European defence firms aimed at strengthening NATO capabilities.