Former Ukraine defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov plans new defence tech investment fund

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s former defence minister, says he wants to launch a new investment fund for defence technology. He made the announcement on Telegram while on a working trip to Washington, where he is meeting venture funds, entrepreneurs, technology companies, experts and organisations that could join the effort.

The idea is not a standard venture capital setup. Fedorov said the fund would both invest in existing Ukrainian defence tech startups and build new companies around technologies he sees as urgently needed on the battlefield. He framed it as a way to bring in international capital and expertise to help Ukraine keep pace through the next technological cycles of the war.

The first focus areas are battlefield robotics to keep soldiers away from dangerous parts of the front, jet-powered interceptor drones to respond to aerial threats such as jet-powered Shahed drones, and low-cost missiles that use AI. Discussions with possible investors and partners are already under way, according to Fedorov.

What comes next is still loose. The team still has to be assembled, the fund’s model still has to be presented, and the first projects still have to be launched. Fedorov also did not spell out what role he would personally play in the new setup.

His return to the defence-tech conversation is notable in itself. At 35, he was Ukraine’s youngest-ever defence minister, but he served only six months before being dismissed in July, a move that set off protests and handed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a political problem. He was replaced by Evgeniy Khmara, who had led Ukraine’s Security Service and the SBU’s Alpha Group.