Resist.UA pushes wartime Ukraine as a defense tech investment window
The Ukrainian fund says early defense tech access is shifting toward investors already on the ground, as local startups move from prototypes to production.
By Marcus Adeyemi · Startups Editor
· 4 min read
Resist.UA, a Ukrainian investment fund founded in 2023, is making the case that the investable moment in Ukraine’s defense technology sector is during the war, rather than after it. The fund’s size is not disclosed; its first portfolio is valued at more than $10 million and is focused on pre-seed and seed companies building military and defense technology.
Founding partner Roman Sulzhyk argues that wartime demand has created a generation of companies testing products under battlefield conditions. Resist.UA says it combines capital with operational help, aiming to move early prototypes into companies that can scale manufacturing. For security reasons, a significant share of its portfolio is not public.
The disclosed portfolio includes companies in battlefield software, autonomous aircraft and robotics. Farsight Vision builds AI-based intelligence software that combines data from multiple battlefield sensors. M-FLY is developing autonomous drones for reconnaissance and strike missions. Phantom Technology, another portfolio company, developed the Teslia unmanned ground vehicle, which Ukraine’s Defence Forces use for frontline logistics and casualty evacuation.
Resist.UA recorded its first exit in May 2026, when defense manufacturer TAF Industries acquired a majority stake in Phantom Technology. The stated goal of that deal was to expand production of the Teslia platform. Terms were not disclosed.
A fund built around early access
Resist.UA describes its model as a mix of venture capital and private equity, with emphasis on company building and manufacturing capacity. The fund says returns are primarily reinvested into portfolio growth and the broader Ukrainian defense tech ecosystem.
Through its first fund, Resist.UA says it reviewed more than 600 projects and worked with more than 100 Ukrainian defense tech teams. Sulzhyk, who previously worked as a trader at Deutsche Bank during the 2008 financial crisis and served on PrivatBank’s supervisory board, says his interest began when he encountered engineers assembling FPV drones by hand after the full-scale invasion.
By 2023, according to Sulzhyk, hundreds of Ukrainian founders were building military technologies. He argues that Ukraine is seeing its first dedicated professional investment capital for startups at a time when the country is also trying to build a domestic defense industry.
Capital is increasing, from a small base
AVentures Capital research cited by Resist.UA identifies defense tech as the fastest-growing sector in Ukraine’s technology ecosystem. By the end of 2025, Ukrainian defense startups had raised more than $129 million in publicly disclosed investments and grants.
- Swarmer: $15 million
- Tencore: $3.74 million
- Dropla: $2.75 million
- Teletactica: $1.5 million
- M-FLY: $1.3 million
- Norda Dynamics: $1 million
Those numbers remain modest by global venture standards, especially compared with mature U.S. and European defense tech markets. The significance is the rate of formation and the unusual proximity between users and builders: Ukrainian teams are developing products for active military needs, often with direct feedback from the front.
Investor competition is getting more visible
Ukraine is also drawing more international capital. Green Flag Ventures operates from Los Angeles and Kyiv and has backed companies including HIMERA and Swarmer. Horizon Capital, a Ukrainian-founded firm backed by more than 40 international institutional investors, has kept its Kyiv headquarters during the war and raised capital including its Catalyst Fund for reconstruction. The International Finance Corporation has also supported Ukraine’s private-sector recovery through investments such as Horizon’s Catalyst Fund.
Other investors named as active in Ukrainian startups include D3, Radius Capital, Scout Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, often through scouts or visits to the country. Sulzhyk says Resist.UA’s edge is meeting founders before they are ready for Western fundraising, sometimes a year or two before international investors encounter them.
He estimates that only about 150 to 200 Ukrainian defense tech companies have received structured venture investment, while many more are building for military users or relying on government procurement. That creates a split market: founders who can already pitch foreign investors, and a larger group with battlefield traction but little experience raising institutional capital.
Resist.UA says part of its work is helping those founders handle hiring, partnerships and international expansion. Oleksii Komlichenko, who works on fundraising, sourcing, government relations and team assessment at the fund, brings an executive search background to that work. The firm’s bet is that some wartime engineering teams will become Ukraine’s next industrial companies, provided they can make the transition from technical shops to durable organizations.
This story draws on original reporting from Tech.eu.
