Buntar Aerospace Raises $16M to Scale Ukrainian Defence Technology
Three years ago, Buntar Aerospace started with a single product. Today, the Ukrainian defence tech company is building across reconnaissance, counter-drone and precision strike support, and has now raised another $16 million to accelerate that journey.
The new round was led by Freedom Fund VC and an international private equity fund, with participation from Gardar Venture Capital, Iron Wolf Capital and Autonomy Capital. It brings Buntar’s total funding to $30 million.
For a Startup Wise Guys portfolio company building in one of the most demanding environments imaginable, it is a significant milestone, but the story behind the round is even more interesting.
Built where performance matters
Founded in August 2023, Buntar has developed two core products: the Buntar-3 reconnaissance drone and Buntar Copilot, an AI-powered assistant designed to support drone operators in making decisions during missions.
Both are already being used by frontline units across Ukraine, where technology is tested not in controlled demos but in environments shaped by electronic warfare and rapidly changing operational realities.
That feedback loop has helped Buntar move quickly, and the company is now seeing growing demand alongside steady revenue.
As co-founder Bohdan Sas puts it:
“Our systems can fly, see and make decisions on their own, so that people can focus on what matters most. This is what Ukraine needs today, and what Europe must be ready for tomorrow.”
$16M for what comes next
The new capital will go directly into the next stage of Buntar’s growth: accelerating R&D and the development of Copilot, expanding production capacity to meet growing demand, strengthening its engineering and management teams, and entering international markets with dual-use technology.
The ambition has also grown beyond the product Buntar started with.
The company is increasingly building across several areas of defence autonomy, from reconnaissance to counter-drone capabilities and precision strike support, while exploring civilian applications for its technology.
For us at Startup Wise Guys, this is exactly the kind of progress we want to see from the founders we back: deep technology built around a real problem, tested by real users and continuously improved as the company grows.
Buntar’s latest round is another important step, but there is clearly much more being built.
