Ukrainian-American Blue Arrow Closes Pre-Seed Round Led by Big Defence
Defense startup Blue Arrow, which develops software for drone control, has announced the closure of its pre-seed funding round. Investments came from backers in both the US and the EU.
What’s Known
- The amount of the investment has not been disclosed. The round was led by Finland-based Big Defence, which, according to its website, also includes the Ukrainian company HIMERA in its portfolio.
- Blue Arrow plans to use the new funds to expand its teams in Ukraine and the US and accelerate the development of its autonomy-focused products: low-cost visual navigation (developed in partnership with US-based KEF Robotics), target tracking and terminal control, a ballistic calculator, and a fleet management system for coordinating multiple UAVs.
«Our mission is to make autonomy accessible, scalable, and reliable for Ukrainian operators on the front lines. By combining proven navigation technologies with advanced fleet management and targeting systems, we’re creating tools that redefine how drones operate in non-GPS environments under active countermeasures,» said Serhii Tereshchenko, CEO of Blue Arrow Defense.
About the Startup
- Blue Arrow is a Ukrainian startup headquartered in Pittsburgh, USA, with its R&D team based in Ukraine. The company is a resident of the Brave1 defense innovation cluster.
- The startup is developing a drone operating system designed specifically for GPS-denied and electronic warfare environments. Integrating both hardware and software, the platform enables drones to detect, identify, track, and neutralize targets.
- Beyond military use, Blue Arrow’s technology can also be applied in the civilian sector — particularly in construction, space exploration, disaster response, and agriculture.
The Story Behind Blue Arrow
- The idea for Blue Arrow originated from the founders’ realization that there are far fewer experienced UAV pilots than drones, and training new ones takes considerable time. The ideal solution, they reasoned, would be enabling one pilot to control multiple drones. However, on the front lines, GPS signals are constantly jammed and spoofed, making fully autonomous missions nearly impossible. This challenge led the team to explore an alternative: visual navigation.
«We started looking for partners, and the American company KEF Robotics responded first and even came to Ukraine,» said Maryna Tymchenko, Director of Partnerships and Operations at Blue Arrow. «Their team provided the modules, and we began integrating them here. The hardest part was finding a manufacturer to collaborate with, since the product needed to be adapted for specific missions.»
- By early 2025, the team officially launched Blue Arrow as a separate startup focused on making drones easier to operate through software innovation. The company’s core areas include visual navigation, guidance systems, and its Fleet Management System, which allows one operator to control multiple UAVs simultaneously.
Ukrainian-American Blue Arrow Closes Pre-Seed Round Led by Big Defence
Defense startup Blue Arrow, which develops software for drone control, has announced the closure of its pre-seed funding round. Investments came from backers in both the US and the EU.
What’s Known
- The amount of the investment has not been disclosed. The round was led by Finland-based Big Defence, which, according to its website, also includes the Ukrainian company HIMERA in its portfolio.
- Blue Arrow plans to use the new funds to expand its teams in Ukraine and the US and accelerate the development of its autonomy-focused products: low-cost visual navigation (developed in partnership with US-based KEF Robotics), target tracking and terminal control, a ballistic calculator, and a fleet management system for coordinating multiple UAVs.
«Our mission is to make autonomy accessible, scalable, and reliable for Ukrainian operators on the front lines. By combining proven navigation technologies with advanced fleet management and targeting systems, we’re creating tools that redefine how drones operate in non-GPS environments under active countermeasures,» said Serhii Tereshchenko, CEO of Blue Arrow Defense.
About the Startup
- Blue Arrow is a Ukrainian startup headquartered in Pittsburgh, USA, with its R&D team based in Ukraine. The company is a resident of the Brave1 defense innovation cluster.
- The startup is developing a drone operating system designed specifically for GPS-denied and electronic warfare environments. Integrating both hardware and software, the platform enables drones to detect, identify, track, and neutralize targets.
- Beyond military use, Blue Arrow’s technology can also be applied in the civilian sector — particularly in construction, space exploration, disaster response, and agriculture.
The Story Behind Blue Arrow
- The idea for Blue Arrow originated from the founders’ realization that there are far fewer experienced UAV pilots than drones, and training new ones takes considerable time. The ideal solution, they reasoned, would be enabling one pilot to control multiple drones. However, on the front lines, GPS signals are constantly jammed and spoofed, making fully autonomous missions nearly impossible. This challenge led the team to explore an alternative: visual navigation.
«We started looking for partners, and the American company KEF Robotics responded first and even came to Ukraine,» said Maryna Tymchenko, Director of Partnerships and Operations at Blue Arrow. «Their team provided the modules, and we began integrating them here. The hardest part was finding a manufacturer to collaborate with, since the product needed to be adapted for specific missions.»
- By early 2025, the team officially launched Blue Arrow as a separate startup focused on making drones easier to operate through software innovation. The company’s core areas include visual navigation, guidance systems, and its Fleet Management System, which allows one operator to control multiple UAVs simultaneously.
