Valkyrie Dynamics, a Ukrainian-Lithuanian defence hardware company building miniature radars that turn low-cost drones into all-weather precision interceptors, has raised €1M in a pre-seed round from Paris-based venture studio Hexa, with participation from defence tech angel investors.
Headquartered in Lithuania, Valkyrie established its physical R&D lab in Kyiv to iterate hardware in days rather than months, working directly alongside Ukrainian frontline operators.
Heading into what the team calls “Shahed season”, October through March, attacks on Ukrainian cities are expected to intensify under longer nights and heavier cloud cover.
Modern warfare is shifting away from multi-million-dollar defence missiles towards low-cost, mass-produced autonomous interceptors. However, most of these interceptors still rely on optical and thermal cameras, which fail in heavy rain, fog, smoke and snow.
According to recent analysis, bad weather reduces drone visibility by up to 80 per cent beyond a few dozen metres. The threat is also changing. Russia is replacing propeller-driven Shaheds with faster, jet-powered variants that typical interceptors can no longer catch. Countering these drones takes both faster, more agile interceptors and reliable sensors that can track high-speed targets in any weather conditions.
To address this, Valkyrie developed Heimdall, an onboard terminal guidance radar seeker designed specifically for FPV interceptors and autonomous interception platforms, which sits in the interceptor’s nose cone. Once airborne, an interceptor only has an approximate target location. In the final kilometre, the operator has to navigate manually, typically using thermal cameras. This works in good weather but fails once cloud cover sets in. In the last 100 to 500 metres, Heimdall gives the operator a radar view instead, so they can still see the target and engage it. The radar emits radio-frequency waves that penetrate conditions traditional cameras cannot see through.
While competitors build expensive ground radars or heavy civil drone sensors, Valkyrie's hardware is lightweight (around 100 grams) and affordable (target price below €300 per unit at volume). Heimdall supports both piloted FPV navigation and autonomous flight when paired with a partner's guidance module. It moves low-cost FPV interceptors towards greater autonomy, while the final decision to engage still sits with a human pilot or the interceptor manufacturer's own systems.
Looking ahead, Valkyrie plans to bring the same advanced radar technology to ground vehicles and other unmanned platforms.
Marcin Kovalevskij, founder and CEO of Valkyrie Dynamics, said:
"Our mission is to make mass-scale air defence more affordable and expendable. We want to replace $3 million missiles with low-cost drone interceptors guided by more accessible radar technology.
Giving these systems better sensors, and eventually fusing those with other components, is what will push the next stage of drone interception. It will make interceptors more autonomous and able to keep up with faster, jet-powered threats."
Trained as an engineering physicist, Marcin began his career building electronics and embedded flight systems at CNRS and Exotrail.
Inspired by conversations with Ukrainian combat officers at the European Defence Tech Hackathon (EDTH) in London in 2025, he started developing the Heimdall concept on weekends while based in Lithuania, funding the earliest work himself.
Check out our earlier interview with EDTH co-founder Benjamin Wolba.
Once Marcin had saved enough, he packed his equipment into two suitcases and moved to Kyiv to set up Valkyrie's R&D lab. For the first five months, he slept on the floor of a factory that had previously taken missile hits.
By October 2026, Valkyrie had a working prototype and joined Hexa Sprint Defense, a specialised acceleration programme for early-stage European defence and dual-use tech startups.
Guillaume Lerouge, Partner at Hexa VC, said:
"At Hexa Sprint Defense we build companies alongside founders, from the first customer to the first factory. Valkyrie is solving a problem every European army is about to face: drones that hide in the weather.
They're building it from Kyiv, where the feedback loop is measured in days, not years. We're proud to have them as the first Ukrainian team in the programme."
Valkyrie is integrating Heimdall with companies that build guidance modules and interceptors. Recent flight tests were conducted with Korven Systems, a Ukrainian-Estonian developer of autonomy systems for interceptor drones.
Valkyrie's product roadmap includes next-generation seekers with increased detection range and a wider field of view. The company also plans to establish European technical integration hubs in late 2026 to serve NATO procurement programmes.
The funds will go towards manufacturing the first version of its radar seeker, product development and team expansion.
Lead image: Marcin Kovalevskij, founder and CEO of Valkyrie Dynamics.
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