Over the past three years, public investment in Ukraine’s domestic defense industry has shown significant growth. According to analytical estimates, funding volumes increased nearly 100 times between 2023 and 2025. However, experts emphasize that about 30% of transactions in this sector remain undisclosed, so the actual scale of the market is much larger than what is reflected in open data.
This is reported by Finway
Record Growth Dynamics in Defense Sector Investments
In 2023, the amount of public investment in the defense industry was $1.1 million. By 2024, this figure rose to $28.7 million, and in 2025 it reached $105.2 million. The main influx of investments is observed in the areas of unmanned systems and autonomous technologies. This includes maritime unmanned platforms, drone autonomy, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and ground autonomous systems.
“The largest volumes of investments are in unmanned systems and autonomy: specifically, in maritime unmanned platforms, drone autonomy, UAVs, and ground platforms. This signals market maturity: the share of investments in expansions and follow-on rounds is increasing,” experts note.
Increase in Average Deal Size and Development of Investment Infrastructure
In addition to the overall increase in investment volumes, experts also note a rise in the average deal size. At the Pre-seed stage, the average deal size grew from $215,000 in 2023 to $718,000 in 2025. At the Seed stage, this figure increased from $1.8 million in 2024 to $2.9 million in 2025. This indicates growing confidence in Ukrainian defense projects and increasing interest from investors.
Beyond purely financial trends, the Ukrainian Council of Arms Manufacturers has initiated the launch of the UCDI Investor Club—a specialized platform aimed at connecting institutional investors with Ukrainian defense companies. The goal of the club is to attract additional funding for the development of Ukraine’s defense ecosystem. To date, 15 investment funds have already joined the UCDI Investor Club, including Darkstar VC, MITS Capital, Green Flag Ventures, and Angel One Fund.