Brave1 becomes largest ‘angel investor’ in Ukrainian and Eastern European arms market
Brave1, the Ukrainian innovative defense technology cluster launched in April 2023, has awarded grants totaling approximately $100 million over three years of operation, according to Brave1 CEO Andriy HHrytseniuk.
"Brave1 has already become the largest 'angel investor' in Ukraine and Eastern Europe in the defense technology market. The grants Brave1 has provided to Ukrainian companies total approximately $100 million," he said at the Exim Talks 2026 conference, organized by Ukreximbank this week.
Hrytseniuk added that Brave1, which has proven its ability to transform the market, has recently also received and administered additional budgets from international partners.
Hrytseniuk added that Brave1, which has proven its ability to transform the market, has recently also received and administered additional budgets from international partners.
He clarified that currently more than 2,000 companies and more than 5,000 different developments are registered with Brave1.
According to him, Brave1 is ready to assist banks in analyzing companies from the defense sector for lending.
Hrytseniuk also invited bankers and other investors to the annual Defense Tech Valley 2026 forum, which will be held September 16-17 in Lviv with the support of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Digital Transformation. He recalled that last year's event brought together representatives from 50 countries and over 5,000 guests, and this year's figures are expected to be even higher.
Commenting on the possible opening of arms exports from Ukraine, the head of Brave1 noted that the cluster is not involved in making relevant decisions.
"We don't participate in decisions about opening exports, but if there are significantly more people willing to export and purchase than there are export permits issued, then something is wrong. This needs to change, and reforms need to be implemented – just as we've implemented reforms in other areas where there were problems," he said.
Hrytseniuk emphasized that Brave1 remains a proponent of a market-based approach and the development of competition, and considers its mission to be supporting new companies and industries in need of accelerated development and scaling.
"We see the best results where competition is stimulated and different teams strive to outpace each other... It used to be said that, apart from Pivdenmash and the Pivdenne Design Bureau, no one in Ukraine was capable of producing missiles. A year and a half has passed, and more than 50 Ukrainian companies are already developing missiles, and over ten of them are testing these technologies at fairly advanced stages of readiness. All of this is possible," he gave as an example.
According to the head of Brave1, this approach, with a healthy exchange of experience, leads to faster innovation than the forced creation of any kind of associations.
Among the new trends, Hrytseniuk highlighted a new model of collaboration, where Brave1 companies transfer the rights to manufacture their unique products to other companies, including civilian factories, in order to scale up production.
"We're now seeing incredible demand and very positive changes in that drone companies have begun actively outsourcing or licensing their production to other companies," said Brave1's CEO.
Another trend he mentioned is the acquisition or merger of companies in sectors that have already become mature, such as interceptors, where there are already more than 150 different companies.
"Ukraine, of course, doesn't need that much. When we see that a segment is already saturated, we stop funding... Of these 150 interceptor manufacturers, 20 will remain, and that's normal. But the best will remain. Some teams will switch to other products, to new segments, if they see they've lost the competition. In some cases, there will be mergers between teams, acquisitions... there will be international partnerships and production, including outside of Ukraine. This is organic market development," Hrytseniuk described his vision.
