Byne, a Ukrainian startup developing artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for the defense and civil sectors, has raised $325,000 in its first round of funding. As Byne co-founder Borys Nadykto told AIN, the round was led by one of the well-known British venture funds, which wished to remain anonymous in the public space due to the sensitivity of the defense tech domain.
Byne was founded in 2022 as a volunteer project to help create a secure infrastructure for the deployment of large language models (LLM) for partners in the Defense Forces of Ukraine. The founders of Byne are Borys Nadykto, Andrii Yakovyna and Denys Budnyk.
Later, the startup began to cooperate with service companies, helping them with projects where powerful AI expertise is needed.
Byne now plans to expand its affiliate program to include outsourcing and product companies.
Fresh funds raised within this round will be used for:
- Funding of the first major partnership with one of NATO’s largest defense contractors (name intentionally withheld due to time-consuming approval process) to create a secure infrastructure for LLM deployment.
- Creating an affiliate program for service companies that need access to LLM’s enterprise deployment expertise and solutions.
- We are planning to conduct a large round of financing in the amount of $2-3 million already next year, if the agreements we are working on in the military sector and in the civilian sector come to reality,
The startup is registered in Great Britain, also operating in the US market. However, the majority of its team is in Ukraine.
