Valkyrie Dynamics Receives One Million Euros for Drone Defense

The Ukrainian-Lithuanian defense tech company Valkyrie Dynamics has raised one million euros in a pre-seed funding round. The lead investor is the French venture studio Hexa, with additional funding coming from business angels in the defense technology sector. At the same time, the startup was accepted into the Hexa Sprint Defense accelerator program, which focuses on young European defense tech and dual-use companies.

Valkyrie Dynamics develops compact radar systems for drone interceptors. The technology is designed to enable the tracking of enemy drones even under difficult weather conditions, when conventional optical or thermal cameras reach their limits.

The company is headquartered in Lithuania and operates a research and development laboratory in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. There, the team works directly with Ukrainian users and technology partners to test its systems under real-world conditions.

The funding will be used to establish production, further develop the radar technology, and expand the team.

Miniature Radar Aims to Make Interceptor Drones Less Dependent on Weather Conditions

At the heart of the development is a radar sensor called Heimdall. The system was designed for so-called FPV interceptor drones and autonomous interceptor platforms.

Until now, many of these systems have used cameras or thermal imaging sensors to detect and track enemy drones. However, in heavy rain, fog, snow, or dense cloud cover, these sensors can lose some of their effectiveness.

Heimdall is intended to reduce this limitation through radar-based target detection. Unlike cameras, the technology uses electromagnetic waves and is therefore less dependent on visible light conditions.

According to Valkyrie Dynamics, the sensor weighs about 100 grams. With larger production volumes, the company aims for a unit price of less than 300 euros.

This development is thus aimed at a market in which the costs of drone defense are becoming increasingly significant. While conventional anti-aircraft missiles can cost several million euros, comparatively inexpensive drones are deployed in large numbers.

The economic challenge lies in countering such threats without having to permanently deploy significantly more expensive defense systems.

With its technology, Valkyrie Dynamics aims to help make more cost-effective interception platforms deployable even under difficult weather conditions.

The system is designed to support control by human pilots as well as to be integrated into more highly automated platforms in conjunction with external control modules.

Development in Kyiv and Expansion into Europe

Valkyrie Dynamics was founded by Marcin Kovalevskij, a trained engineering physicist. Previously, he worked on electronics and embedded flight systems at CNRS and Exotrail, among other projects.

The idea for the company emerged following discussions with Ukrainian military personnel during the European Defense Tech Hackathon in London in 2025.

Kovalevskij initially began developing the radar concept with his own funds and later relocated his work to Kyiv. That is where the startup’s research and development lab was established.

In October 2026, the company reported that it had a functional prototype and was accepted into the Hexa Sprint Defense program.

Valkyrie Dynamics is now working with manufacturers of interceptor drones and control systems to integrate its technology. Flight tests were conducted in collaboration with, among others, Korven Systems, a Ukrainian-Estonian developer of autonomous systems for interceptor drones.

The results communicated so far stem from the development and testing phase. The extent to which the technology is already in regular use and the performance it achieves under various conditions are not clear from the company’s statements.

With the new funding, Valkyrie Dynamics plans to move the first product generation into production. At the same time, further sensor generations with greater detection range and an expanded field of view are planned.

The company’s plans call for establishing technical integration sites in Europe by the end of 2026. These are intended, in particular, to facilitate collaboration with European manufacturers and participation in procurement programs of NATO member states.

The investment also highlights the growing interest among European investors in defense technologies that stem directly from the experiences of the war in Ukraine.

For Valkyrie Dynamics, the key question now will be whether the radar technology developed so far can be reliably integrated into various platforms and produced economically in larger quantities.