Venture fund Angel One is seeing rapid growth in its portfolio thanks to defense innovations, while the civilian segment of the Ukrainian startup ecosystem is currently stagnating. On average, the fund’s portfolio has increased by approximately 400%.
Venture fund Angel One is seeing rapid growth in its portfolio thanks to defense innovations, while the civilian segment of the Ukrainian startup ecosystem is currently stagnating. On average, the fund’s portfolio has increased by approximately 400%.
Ivan Petrenko, managing partner of Angel One Fund, told this in an interview with Forbes Ukraine. According to him, it is DefenceTech that demonstrates the highest development dynamics and is the most active segment of the IT market.
The main reason for this imbalance was the emergence of significant funds in the defense market and the consistently high demand for military developments. This situation also significantly affects the labor market.
“It’s difficult for civilian startups to find people — DefenceTech pays more and the mission is clear,” explains Petrenko.
Despite the strategic importance and rapid growth of military startups, it can sometimes be difficult for funds to invest directly in them. Direct investments in defense companies can limit a fund’s ability to raise institutional capital in the future, as DefenseTech remains a “red flag” for many such investors. Even one defense company in a portfolio can significantly complicate raising the next fund.
Therefore, Angel One separates investment mechanisms: money is invested in civilian startups directly through the fund, and in defense startups - through special syndicates.
By 2026, it is planned to finance about 12 new companies, dividing them equally: six civilian and six defense. Among the current growth leaders in the military portfolio, Petrenko singled out Swarmer , a developer of software for drone swarms, and Frontline Robotics , a manufacturer of drones and turrets.
Earlier, Swarmer CEO Serhiy Kuprienko spoke about the successful IPO and described the drone swarm technology his company is working on.
