Ukraine to create largest Defense Tech fund to invest in military startups - former minister Fedorov
Ukraine's digitalization team has returned from a working trip during which it held a series of important meetings with international donors, Big Tech representatives and venture funds. The main goal of the trip was to attract additional investment and resources for the country's continued transformation, the development of products like Diia, Mriya and Diia City, and the rollout of artificial intelligence, former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said.
"It's important to use my contacts around the world to bring additional funding into Ukraine, to keep doing this, and, conversely, to scale up everything that's already been done so nothing stops," Fedorov said in a statement on his Telegram channel.
He also said the team had secured resources that will allow the creation, in Kyiv, of the largest venture fund in the Defense Tech sector, which will invest in both military startups and established companies.
"We have three key priorities. The first is sensorization and robotization of the front line, to protect our soldiers' lives and speed up front-line robotization as much as possible. The second is jet interceptors, cheap missiles and other means to shoot down jet-powered Shaheds and missiles - and we know the scale of the threat today. Just this morning, a Shahed hit a residential building in Kyiv. The goal is to accelerate solving this problem. And the third is cheap strike missiles, eventually with AI. We need to have a response to every enemy attack, and to have our own system built that's capable of responding at scale," the former minister said.
He said the Defense Tech Fund will be launched "soon."
"I'll be inviting both startups and experts to join it and work within the fund," Fedorov added.
He also said an analytical center is planned for launch.
"Over the past 7-8 months, we've found the key to the Russians: how to find their vulnerabilities, how to strike and seize the initiative in the air and on the ground. The goal is to use our experience to be able to forecast the war's next steps and proactively generate solutions to seize the initiative. So there will be an announcement about this soon too," he said.
He stressed that the main task today is finding solutions that will allow Ukraine to win the war for independence, end the war, and do so through innovation, technology and asymmetry.
"So everything I've done up to now, we're continuing to do with our team. And I hope this gives hope to someone who has it, or restores hope to someone starting to lose it. Everyone in their own place, regardless of status, wherever we are - we keep fighting," Fedorov concluded.
It was reported on August 28 that former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov had become an advisor to Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto.
In addition, Fedorov announced on September 1 the creation of a defense technology company.
"Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, will become its first lead investor," Fedorov said.
He said the company's goal is to use the experience and expertise he gained during the technological transformation of Ukraine's defense sector to create new technologies with global potential.