Ukrainian defense startup Sky Hunter has raised a pre-seed round, according to Defender Media, citing the company’s founder and CEO, Sergiy Nazarov.

What’s known

• The exact amount of the deal has not been disclosed. However, Nazarov said the project was valued at $4 million during the round.
• Three investors participated. Two of them — Front Ventures and Hede Capital Partners — invested in the company back in the fall. A third investor joined later under NDA.
• The funds will be used to expand the engineering team and further refine the product based on feedback from special forces units already using it.
• Sky Hunter currently has a team of up to 15 people and plans to grow to 40–50 employees this year, with a focus on hiring embedded developers.
• In 2025, the company also received a grant from Brave1.

About the startup

• Sky Hunter develops an application that guides interceptor drones toward aerial targets, primarily Shahed-type drones and reconnaissance UAVs. The system automates the targeting process by using real-time radar data to direct strike drones toward enemy UAVs.

• According to Nazarov, several special units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are already using the product. The application helps them shoot down both Shahed drones and reconnaissance UAVs.
• The system has also been integrated with several interceptor drone manufacturers, though their names have not been disclosed.
• Sky Hunter is currently the only interceptor drone application available on the Brave1 Market marketplace for one hryvnia — effectively free — as the company aims to build a large user base and gather as much operational feedback as possible at this stage. In the future, Sky Hunter plans to introduce paid software licenses.
• Sky Hunter plans to develop a terminal guidance solution that will fully automate the entire cycle of intercepting enemy UAVs, including the final shoot-down phase. To accomplish this, the company intends to raise a seed round.