In the first half of 2026, approximately 45–50% of venture investments in Ukrainian technology companies went to the defense sector, while 50–55% went to civilian startups. This distribution can already be called the new equilibrium of the Ukrainian tech market.
In the first half of 2026, approximately 45–50% of venture investments in Ukrainian technology companies went to the defense sector, while 50–55% went to civilian startups. This distribution can already be called the new equilibrium of the Ukrainian tech market.
This assessment was made by Oleksandr Yatsenko, Principal at SMOK Ventures and one of the participants in the Ukrainian venture ecosystem.
According to him, the ratio between DefenseTech and Civilian Tech in the first half of the year was approximately 50:50, although a few years ago the Ukrainian venture market was much more focused on civilian technology companies.
Yatsenko believes that Ukraine is currently one of the best places in the world to create advanced defense technologies. The reason is a unique combination of real combat experience, access to military users, rapid technology testing, and a large number of engineering teams.
But there is an important «but». Ukraine is one of the best places in the world to create cutting-edge DefenseTech, but not yet one of the best places to build a global defense company. That is, Ukrainian startups can very quickly create and improve products for modern warfare, but scaling them into a global business is much more difficult. This is due, in particular, to access international capital, regulatory restrictions, the peculiarities of defense procurement and the need to enter other markets.
For the civilian tech sector, Yatsenko sees another risk: the gradual isolation of teams that remain exclusively in Ukraine. According to him, for some of these companies, there is already a noticeable gap between what they create and the real demand of global clients. This is a potentially important change for the Ukrainian IT market.
For a long time, Ukrainian technology companies could compensate for the lack of a large domestic market by focusing on the US, Europe and other international markets. But if a team works largely only within the Ukrainian ecosystem, it risks losing touch with global trends and customer needs. For DefenseTech, this isolation is partially compensated by the unique Ukrainian combat experience: the product can be tested directly in war conditions. For a civilian startup, there is no such advantage — its product must meet international demand from the very beginning.
