Ukrainian-British defence technology company UForce, founded by Oleg Rogynskyy and Oleksiy Honcharuk, has raised $700 million in a Series A funding round at a $6 billion valuation. This is the largest venture capital funding round in the history of Ukrainian-founded startups. Investors include the UK's National Wealth Fund, US-based Valor Equity Partners, and the U.S.–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund.
UForce, which develops and manufactures autonomous unmanned systems for maritime, aerial, and ground operations, announced on November 12, 2026, that it had secured $700 million in Series A financing.
Following the round, the company's valuation reached $6 billion — approximately six times higher than in March 2026, when UForce raised $50 million in a seed round at a valuation exceeding $1 billion.
The investment deal was reported by Reuters, Bloomberg, CNBC, The Guardian, and other leading international media outlets.
The newly raised capital will be used to scale the production of unmanned systems, advance autonomous technologies, expand manufacturing capacity in Ukraine and partner countries, and strengthen the company's presence in the international defence market.
Who Invested $700 Million in UForce?
The funding round was co-led by two major investors:
-
National Wealth Fund (NWF) — the UK government's state-owned investment fund.
-
Valor Equity Partners — a US investment firm specializing in financing high-growth technology businesses.
According to The Guardian, the National Wealth Fund invested £113 million, or approximately $150 million, in UForce. This represents the fund's largest investment in the defence technology sector.
The British state-owned fund therefore accounts for approximately 21% of the total announced funding round.
The U.S.–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF), established with the participation of the US and Ukrainian governments, also joined the round.
In addition to government-backed investment institutions, several international venture capital investors participated:
-
Menlo Ventures — a US venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley.
-
Xantium — an investment firm focused on technology businesses.
-
Hiro Capital — an investment fund specializing in technology companies.
-
Shield Capital — a US fund investing in defence technologies and national security.
-
Ballistic Ventures — a venture capital fund focused on technology and cybersecurity.
-
Lakestar — an international venture capital investment firm.
-
Squadra — an existing investor in UForce.
The last four investors had previously participated in the company's financing and increased their stakes as part of the new round.
Individual investment commitments from most participants, apart from the UK's National Wealth Fund, have not been disclosed.
UK Sovereign Investment Fund Commits Approximately $150 Million to UForce Manufacturing
The participation of the National Wealth Fund, which is wholly owned by HM Treasury, is particularly significant.
According to The Guardian, the fund invested approximately £113 million in UForce. The investment demonstrates the willingness of British government-backed capital to finance not only traditional infrastructure projects but also defence technologies developed using Ukraine's battlefield experience.
The investment is expected to support the expansion of UForce's manufacturing presence in the United Kingdom and the development of domestic supply chains.
According to the UK Ministry of Defence, the company plans to localize the production of maritime drones, including hulls, engines, electronics, and onboard equipment systems.
More than 70% of the components and manufacturing inputs for each unmanned surface vessel produced in the UK are expected to be sourced from British manufacturers.
This approach is expected to create new highly skilled jobs, strengthen local manufacturing supply chains, and develop the UK's domestic defence capabilities.
Oliver Holbourn, CEO of the National Wealth Fund, noted that the investment reflects the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United Kingdom and will help transfer expertise in the development and deployment of autonomous systems to the British defence industry.
The UForce investment also aligns with the UK's broader strategy to expand unmanned systems production.
In June 2026, the British government announced an investment programme worth more than £5 billion over four years in unmanned technologies as part of its Defence Investment Plan.
However, this government programme is a separate initiative and is not included in UForce's $700 million financing round.
U.S.–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund to Support UForce Manufacturing in Ukraine
Another important participant in the funding round is the U.S.–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF).
According to UForce's official press release, the fund's investment will be directed specifically toward developing the company's operations in Ukraine, including team expansion, research and development (R&D), and new product development.
Conor Coleman, a representative of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), described the transaction as URIF's largest investment to date in the advanced technology sector.
URIF's participation is strategically important because it demonstrates the practical application of the joint US-Ukrainian investment mechanism to finance technology companies.
However, the exact size of URIF's investment in the round has not been disclosed.
Importantly, not all of the $700 million raised will be invested exclusively in Ukraine. UForce plans to allocate capital between its Ukrainian operations and international manufacturing infrastructure.
How UForce's Valuation Increased from $1 Billion to $6 Billion in Eight Months
UForce was founded in January 2025 by Ukrainian entrepreneurs Oleg Rogynskyy, founder of technology company People.ai, and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk.
The Ukrainian-founded company is headquartered in London and operates major hubs in Kyiv and Washington, D.C.
In March 2026, UForce raised $50 million in a seed funding round led by Shield Capital and Lakestar, with participation from Ballistic Ventures.
At the time, the company was valued at more than $1 billion, becoming the first Ukrainian-founded DefenceTech unicorn.
The new $700 million funding round demonstrates the rapid growth of the company's investment appeal.
As early as September 2026, Bloomberg reported that UForce was in talks to raise approximately $500 million at a valuation of around $5 billion.
However, the final transaction proved substantially larger: the company raised $200 million more than initially discussed, while its valuation exceeded earlier negotiating benchmarks by approximately $1 billion.
According to CNBC, some investors offered UForce even higher valuations, but management decided to select this particular group of investors, partly due to their expertise and ability to support business development.
Consequently, UForce's choice of investors was driven not only by valuation but also by access to international manufacturing infrastructure, government customers, and defence markets.
UForce Orders More Than Double: New Details from CNBC
One of the most significant additional details revealed by international media concerns the company's commercial growth.
In an interview with CNBC, UForce CEO Oleg Rogynskyy said that the company's order volume had more than doubled over the past year.
The original order volume was already estimated at several hundred million dollars.
Rogynskyy did not disclose precise absolute figures.
The CEO also stated that, in his view, the company's current valuation is justified by its revenue and order backlog.
However, UForce does not publicly disclose its exact annual revenue, EBITDA, profitability, or the composition of its contract portfolio.
Therefore, order volume should not be equated with revenue actually recognized by the company.
According to Rogynskyy, UForce is already working with several NATO countries, although it has not disclosed its customer list or the distribution of products between Ukraine and international markets.
Asked by CNBC whether manufacturing capacity might be redirected toward foreign customers, the CEO emphasized that meeting the needs of Ukraine's armed forces would remain a priority.
How Will UForce Spend the $700 Million Raised?
The primary use of the new capital will be to scale the production of autonomous systems for Ukraine and allied nations.
According to UForce's official press release, the company plans to expand its manufacturing presence across the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Middle East.
Its distributed manufacturing model is intended to ensure continuity of production, strengthen supply chain resilience, and enable defence systems to be manufactured closer to end customers.
The company is also exploring opportunities to repurpose existing shipbuilding and automotive manufacturing facilities in partner countries for the production of unmanned systems.
One example of this approach is its partnership with US-based ReconCraft to scale the production of MAGURA maritime drones in the United States.
In addition to manufacturing expansion, the company plans to invest in software development, autonomous technologies, and systems that coordinate different types of unmanned platforms.
What Defence Technologies Does UForce Produce?
UForce is developing a comprehensive ecosystem of autonomous maritime, ground, and aerial systems.
The company specializes not only in manufacturing individual unmanned platforms but also in developing software that enables them to operate together within an integrated command-and-control system.
Its main product lines include:
-
MAGURA — a family of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) used for maritime operations.
-
NEMESIS — a family of aerial strike drone systems.
-
LIUT — ground robotic platforms.
-
PREDATOR — automated turret systems, including those designed to counter aerial threats.
-
C2 (Command and Control) — software solutions for coordinating and managing unmanned systems.
According to the company, MAGURA maritime drones have participated in combat operations in the Black Sea that resulted in the destruction of more than ten Russian warships.
UForce reports that NEMESIS drones have completed more than 300,000 combat sorties and are used by over 100 units of Ukraine's Defence Forces.
The company cites these figures as evidence of the scale of its technologies' combat deployment. They do not represent independently audited operational data.
According to Ukrainian specialized media outlets, UForce is also developing new technologies to counter attack drones, including automated interception systems and laser technologies.
Former NATO Commander Christopher Cavoli Joins UForce's Board of Directors
An important development associated with the new investment round is the strengthening of the company's board of directors.
Retired General Christopher Cavoli, who served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) from 2022 to 2025, has joined the board.
Cavoli is currently a partner at Valor Equity Partners, one of the lead investors in the new round.
The involvement of the former senior NATO commander could strengthen UForce's strategic capabilities and help deepen cooperation with international defence organizations.
The company's board also includes former UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who joined UForce as an independent director in 2025.
Valor Equity Partners itself is led by Antonio Gracias, who previously served on Tesla's board of directors and has been involved in investment activities related to SpaceX.
Thus, UForce is attracting not only financial investors but also management expertise and industry knowledge from the international defence technology sector.
Ukrainian Technologies Could Become Part of NATO's Defence Infrastructure
According to The Guardian, on November 12, 2026, UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting met with Oleg Rogynskyy aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales during a defence conference in Norway.
During the meeting, the British minister remotely operated a UForce MV7 maritime drone located more than 1,500 miles from the demonstration site, in the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal.
The UK defence establishment has highlighted the potential of autonomous maritime systems for protecting the North Atlantic, underwater infrastructure, and countering threats from Russia.
Another area of UForce's cooperation involves developing partnerships within NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF).
The company is also one of the founders of the EU–Ukraine Drone Alliance, an initiative aimed at strengthening cooperation between Ukrainian and European defence technology manufacturers.
These international relationships create opportunities for UForce to access large-scale defence procurement programmes and integrate Ukrainian technologies into the security systems of allied nations.
At the same time, the company has not disclosed specific contracts, order volumes, or projected revenues from such cooperation.
Largest Investment Round in the History of Ukrainian Startups
The $700 million financing represents a record venture capital funding round for Ukrainian-founded startups.
For comparison, in 2025 Grammarly, founded by Ukrainian entrepreneurs, secured $1 billion in financing from General Catalyst.
However, that transaction was structured as financing backed by future revenues rather than a traditional equity investment.
Another example is GitLab, co-founded by Ukrainian entrepreneur Dmytro Zaporozhets.
During its IPO in 2021, GitLab's total share offering amounted to approximately $801 million. However, the company itself received around $648 million, while the remaining proceeds went to existing shareholders selling their shares.
Therefore, UForce's $700 million round is the largest publicly disclosed private equity financing round among startups of Ukrainian origin.
Importantly, the new capital is being directed toward business development. According to UForce, the founders are not selling their stakes or receiving payouts or dividends as part of the new round.
In addition, UForce has reserved a significant equity allocation for employee incentives through an employee share ownership programme. The exact size of this allocation has not been disclosed.
What Does UForce's $6 Billion Valuation Mean for Investors?
The announced $6 billion valuation reflects investors' high expectations for the company's future growth and its potential in the global defence market.
However, a $6 billion valuation does not mean that the company has generated an equivalent amount of revenue or profit. It represents an investment valuation of the business established as part of the financing round.
UForce has not publicly clarified whether the valuation is pre-money or post-money. Therefore, the ownership stakes acquired by new investors cannot be calculated precisely by simply comparing the $700 million raised with the $6 billion valuation.
The full terms of the investment agreements, the post-round capitalization structure, the group's financial results, and the schedule for deploying the newly raised capital have also not been disclosed.
For potential investors, key factors determining the company's future development will include scaling production, converting orders into actual revenue, operating margins, international certification, and access to defence procurement contracts in NATO countries.
What Does the UForce Deal Mean for Ukraine's DefenceTech and Venture Capital Markets?
UForce's investment round is an important milestone not only for the company but also for Ukraine's entire technology sector.
It demonstrates how Ukrainian defence technologies are gradually evolving from locally manufactured solutions for frontline needs into the foundations of international technology companies with global ambitions.
The participation of a British state-owned investment fund, the US-backed URIF investment mechanism, and leading private investment firms highlights growing international capital interest in technological solutions that have been tested under real combat conditions.
For Ukraine, the transaction has several strategic implications: attracting foreign investment, developing high-tech manufacturing, creating jobs, supporting R&D, and integrating Ukrainian companies into global defence supply chains.
At the same time, UForce's international expansion is establishing a model in which Ukrainian engineering innovations can scale through the manufacturing capacity and investment capital of partner countries.
Raising $700 million at a $6 billion valuation places UForce among the most valuable Ukrainian-founded technology companies and demonstrates the emergence of Ukrainian DefenceTech as a fully established segment of global venture capital and strategic investment.
