Analysis
UFORCE, a Ukrainian-founded drone maker headquartered in London, has raised $700 million in a Series A that values it at $6 billion, the Kyiv Independent reported after the company's November 12 announcement. Valor Equity Partners and the UK's National Wealth Fund co-led the round.
The National Wealth Fund's piece alone is a 113-million-pound ($150 million) investment, which the Kyiv Independent describes as its largest defence investment to date.
The round lands eight months after UFORCE's seed and ends up larger than the deal first reported. Earlier Bloomberg-sourced reports, summarized by The Next Web, described talks for about $500 million at roughly $5 billion and warned that the terms could change.
“The National Wealth Fund's piece alone is a 113-million-pound ($150 million) investment, which the Kyiv Independent describes as its largest defence investment to date.”
They did change, upward, by $200 million in size and about $1 billion in valuation.
What does UFORCE do?
UFORCE develops uncrewed systems for air, land and sea operations, plus the software to control them, according to the Kyiv Independent. It sells four product lines:
- MAGURA -- uncrewed surface vessels used in Black Sea operations; the company says they contributed to destroying more than a dozen Russian warships (DroneLife)
- NEMESIS -- heavy strike drones that the company says have completed more than 300,000 combat flights with more than 100 Ukrainian military units (DroneLife)
- LIUT -- ground robots
- PREDATOR -- counter-drone turret systems
Those combat figures are the company's own and have not been independently verified. UFORCE has offices in Kyiv and Washington, D.C., per the Kyiv Independent. CEO Oleg Rogynskyy previously founded the sales-software company People.ai, per Tech Funding News. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksii Honcharuk chairs the company, and former UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace sits on the board, Tech Funding News reported. UFORCE has not disclosed revenue, order backlog or production volumes.
Value Add VC data: UFORCE funding history
- Mar 2026, Seed -- $50M at a valuation above $1B, led by Lakestar and Shield Capital (Tech Funding News)
- Nov 2026, Series A -- $700M at $6B, co-led by Valor Equity Partners and the UK National Wealth Fund (Kyiv Independent)
The valuation rose from above $1 billion to $6 billion, so the new mark is up to six times the seed price. Because the seed figure was given only as "above $1B," the exact multiple is somewhat lower. The capital raised grew fourteenfold, from $50 million to $700 million.
Who invested in UFORCE?
Alongside the two co-leads, the U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF) participated. URIF's Conor Coleman said the deal is "URIF's largest investment in the emerging technology sector to date," per the Kyiv Independent. Menlo Ventures, Xantium and Hiro Capital came in as new investors, and existing backers Shield Capital, Ballistic Ventures, Lakestar and Squadra increased their stakes. Retired US Army General Christopher Cavoli, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe and now a Valor partner, will join the board, per DroneLife. The UK fund backing the round is wholly owned by HM Treasury and has £43.2 billion to deploy, Tech Funding News reported.
Defence drone market and UFORCE competitors
Europe's defence-tech leaders have repriced in 2026. Tech Funding News lists the closest comparables:
- Helsing (Munich) -- $1.8B Series E at an $18B valuation in July 2026, led by Dragoneer and Lightspeed
- Quantum Systems (Germany) -- $1.2B Series D in July 2026 at about $8B
- Stark (Berlin) -- €500M at more than €3.5B in June 2026, with Sequoia and Founders Fund among investors
At $6 billion, UFORCE is valued at a third of Helsing and below Quantum Systems, but above Stark.
Grand View Research put the global military drone market at $47.4 billion in 2025 and projects $98.2 billion by 2033, roughly double, as relayed by Tech Funding News. Pulse's funding tracker logs this year's other large rounds.
The money goes to research and development and to production in the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. That includes a partnership with US builder ReconCraft to make MAGURA vessels in the United States, per the Kyiv Independent. The risk is the one every wartime supplier carries: most of UFORCE's proof comes from Ukraine's battlefield. A ceasefire or a slower procurement cycle in allied ministries would test whether a $6 billion price holds without the combat-flight numbers that justify it today.
