The head of the Brave1 defense-tech cluster, Natalia Kushnerska, became the director of the Innovation Development Fund, which combines the functionality of Brave1 itself and the Ukrainian Startup Fund.
The head of the Brave1 defense-tech cluster, Natalia Kushnerska, became the director of the Innovation Development Fund, which combines the functionality of Brave1 itself and the Ukrainian Startup Fund.
«Now Natalia will manage the development of the innovation ecosystem, attracting investments for civilian and defense startups, and fast-tracking technologies to the front,» the Ministry of Digital Affairs said in a statement.
Natalia Kushnerska has been working with the Ministry of Digital Affairs projects for two years, and in April 2023 she headed Brave1.
«Brave1, under the leadership of Natalia Kushnerskaya, has shown great results — hundreds of innovative developments are already helping the military on the battlefield. And they have also fully launched the markets for ground robotic complexes and electronic warfare equipment in Ukraine,» the ministry explained.
In November 2024, summing up Brave1's work over the past year and a half, Kushnerskaya stated that foreign investors were most interested in software for Defense Tech.
Last spring, it was announced that as of then, after a year of operation, Brave1 had funded over 1,600 developments for $3.2 million.
In turn, as dev.ua wrote, in September 2024, the European Union opened the Defense Innovation Office in Ukraine, which should become a platform for cooperation between Ukrainian and European innovators, startups, and defense companies.
