On September 27, during the IT Arena 2025 conference in Lviv, it was announced that 11 startups raised about $3 million in investments. Most of the backed companies are in the defense tech sector, while one deal remains undisclosed.

• This year’s Startup Competition investment fund hit a record $15 million in soft commitments — the largest in the event’s history.
• The investor lineup featured well-known VC firms, funds, and investment clubs, including 1991 VC, United Angels Network, Vesna Capital, Presto Tech Horizons, Tilia Impact Ventures, Depo Ventures, Radix VC, PurposeTech VC, Rockaway Ventures, Double Tap Investments, MITS Capital, Green Flag Ventures, NextFrontier Fund, and Wolver Ventures.

Who Got Funded

• Bravo Dynamics — $125,000 from United Angels Network
• MITS Capital invested a total of $1 million across five startups:
  • $200,000 – Blue Arrow
  • $200,000 – Stozhar
  • $200,000 – SlimBeam
  • $200,000 – DroneMate
  • $200,000 – Zmiyar
• Depo Ventures — $250,000 in A42
• Wolver Ventures and NextFrontier Fund — €200,000 each (approx. $235,000) into:
  • Bravo Dynamics
  • Zmiyar
  • Strug
  • BabAI

• Double Tap Investments backed DroneMate, Strug, and barvinok-5 (amounts undisclosed)
• 1991 Ventures (Ukrainian-British) — a $500,000 soft commitment to an undisclosed company. UPD: The firm clarified to Scroll.media that it is still in discussions with several startups and no final investment has been made yet.

In addition to the funding announcements, IT Arena 2025 named winners of the Startup Competition, which awarded a $60,000 prize pool across two categories:

• General: Ovul, Heft, and StackBob
• Defense Tech: Dwarf Engineering, BabAI, and Bravo Dynamics