Britain’s taxpayer-backed National Wealth Fund wrote what it calls its largest defense investment to date, £113 million (approximately $150 million USD), into drone maker UFORCE on Thursday, as the Ukrainian-founded, London-headquartered company announced a $700 million Series A at a $6 billion valuation co-led with Valor Equity Partners.

Public money from Britain, the U.S. and Ukraine now sits beside private capital, with the Reconstruction Investment Fund participating, in a company that has not published revenue, whose chief executive says production is still centered in Ukraine, and whose newest director is a partner at the firm that co-led the round.

Valuation Climbs Up to Sixfold in Eight Months While Revenue Stays Undisclosed

The price kept rising between rumor and close. Sifted reported in August that UFORCE was seeking a valuation above $4 billion, and Bloomberg reported on Sept. 7 that the company was in talks to raise about $500 million at about $5 billion, with Valor expected to lead. The closed round is 40 percent larger in dollars and carries a valuation 20 percent higher than the Bloomberg figures. It values UFORCE at up to six times its March round, which raised $50 million at a valuation reported only as above $1 billion.

Revenue is the missing number. UFORCE has not released revenue or profit figures. Chief executive Oleg Rogynskyy told CNBC that bookings have more than doubled over the past year from a base of several hundred million dollars, without giving exact figures or naming customers beyond saying the company works with several NATO countries. He called the valuation not aggressive and said investors had offered higher ones, according to Implicator.ai.

Outside observers have flagged how little can be checked. The Next Web’s September report cited a 450 percent bookings-growth claim for 2025, company figures that carry no public audit, and noted that the round had not closed and its terms could change. Rival Fire Point said its 2025 revenue was about $669 million USD, according to DroneXL citing Ukrainska Pravda, while Malenkov, quoted by dev.ua, does not yet count UFORCE among Ukrainian defense companies with more than $100 million in revenue because it has not disclosed the figure, according to dev.ua.

UK Fund Commits $150 Million, Over Four Times Its Debut Defense Check

The £113 million (approximately $150 million USD) equity investment is the fund’s largest defense deal to date, according to its statement as relayed by Securities.io. Its first defense investment came on May 13, when it committed £25 million to Rowden (approximately $33 million USD), an engineering firm, so the UFORCE check is about 4.5 times larger.

The shift follows the Oct. 28 Autumn Budget, when Chancellor John Healey added £15.4 billion in capital (approximately $20.5 billion USD) to the fund. In a letter to the fund, he told it to give defense substantially more weight, alongside critical minerals and artificial intelligence. The Budget also set aside £5 billion over four years (approximately $6.7 billion USD) of investment and lending across the fund and the British Business Bank for defense, dual-use technology and sovereign capability.

The fund is wholly owned by HM Treasury, and a 2025 Treasury Committee inquiry examined how likely it is to achieve its aims. Here it co-led with a private investor, consistent with its stated mission to mobilize additional private investment.

Where Will UFORCE Build Its Drone Boats: Ukraine, Britain or Oregon?

The fund’s announcement says the investment will scale British production, engineering and delivery of MAGURA MV7 and MV11 vessels and NEMESIS systems, with more than 70 percent of each UK-built MV-series boat’s content planned to come from British suppliers.

Rogynskyy’s account differs. In a post-round interview with Tectonic Defense, he said production is centered in Ukraine and that capacity is built elsewhere only when the supply chain cannot be established there. He did not confirm UK manufacturing, pointing instead to research and development, where the UK is a focus.

A third build plan is in motion in the U.S. UFORCE signed a memorandum with Oregon boatbuilder ReconCraft on July 21 to build MAGURA vessels in Oregon and South Carolina. Until UFORCE names sites and volumes, the British-content plan cannot be tested.

MV11 Mothership Carries 4,850 Pounds of Payload for Up to Seven Days at Sea

The vessel at the center of the British pitch is changing roles. UFORCE unveiled the MV11 on Aug. 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day, as an ocean-going mothership, designed with its Portuguese R&D bureau, to carry, launch and recover other unmanned systems far offshore, Kyiv Post reported. Navy Leaders calls the MV11 a mothership as well.

Developers told Kyiv Post the vessel carries up to 2,200 kilograms (4,850 pounds) of payload and can operate autonomously for up to seven days. Reported lengths differ: Kyiv Post put it at 7 meters (23 feet), while Navy Leaders cited up to 12 meters (39 feet) overall.

Rogynskyy’s rationale is range: boats can travel 800 nautical miles offshore (about 920 miles) from an adversary’s coast and launch small drones that strike distant targets cheaply. UFORCE says its goal is to cut the cost of defense to about one-hundredth of offensive operations, in Rogynskyy’s words a push to “make aggression unaffordable”.

UFORCE also fielded 19 uncrewed systems at a NATO maritime exercise, including a ship-launched NEMESIS SeaStrike drone, The Defense Post reported on Oct. 5. UFORCE’s operational claims, including more than 300,000 NEMESIS combat flights across 100-plus units, come from the company and have not been independently verified.

Rogynskyy Pitches Autonomy While Experts Split Over Human Control of Weapons

Rogynskyy told Tectonic Defense that “if it’s not autonomous, it doesn’t work anymore.” He did not address human oversight or human-in-the-loop controls in that interview.

UFORCE’s PREDATOR counter-drone turret, which TechTimes reported under the name Lyut-Khyzhak and deployed in Kyiv, uses AI to detect and track targets while an operator authorizes fire with one button, according to TechTimes reporting. Its effective range is 800 meters (2,625 feet). The announcement coverage reviewed for this article does not describe oversight rules for MAGURA vessels or NEMESIS drones.

Experts disagree on how much human control survives. West Point’s Lieber Institute argued in August that requiring a human to approve every lethal engagement is effectively dead in Ukraine, with NATO air-power thinkers moving toward on-the-loop roles that keep a veto, while an essay on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Strategist blog on Sept. 28 argued humans must stay in control.

Cavoli Joins UFORCE Board While Remaining a Partner at Valor, Which Co-Led the Round

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, joins UFORCE’s board while remaining a partner at Valor, which co-led the round. Valor lists Cavoli as partner, and says he joined the firm in 2025. He retired in July 2025 after a 38-year Army career, studied biology at Princeton and became NATO’s top commander in July 2022.

Rogynskyy told Tectonic Defense that UFORCE has brought in a Big Four auditor and a general counsel who previously held that role at a NATO innovation accelerator, and that Valor brings access to its Scale Group of talent from Tesla, SpaceX and beyond. The board already includes chairman Oleksiy Honcharuk, a former Ukrainian prime minister, per Tech Funding News, and former UK defense secretary Ben Wallace, whom Forbes Ukraine described as independent. None of the coverage reviewed says whether Cavoli will be classified as independent or how the board will manage the overlap with Valor.

Valor’s chief executive, Antonio Gracias, sits on SpaceX’s board, and the firm’s portfolio includes defense contractor Anduril. Rogynskyy, who founded the AI company People.ai before turning to defense, also founded Freedom Fund, which has backed roughly 30 Ukrainian defense-tech companies since 2022.

US-Ukraine Reconstruction Fund Joins the Round, Share Undisclosed

The U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, created under the April 2025 minerals agreement, also participated in the round. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation seeded it with $75 million, matched by Ukraine for $150 million in total. DFC describes its focus as energy, critical minerals and infrastructure; a U.S. Treasury release also lists emerging technologies.

UFORCE says the fund’s money will support its operations in Ukraine. The fund’s share of the round is not disclosed in the coverage reviewed. Its first investment, approved on March 25, went to Sine Engineering, which the Treasury release calls an emerging-technology company.

UFORCE Prices at One-Third of Helsing’s Valuation

At $6 billion, UFORCE sits at one-third of Helsing’s $18 billion valuation from a $1.8 billion round in July and below Quantum Systems’ $8 billion valuation from a $1.2 billion round the same month.

Ukrainian drone maker Airlogix is a nearer comparison: Forbes reported on Oct. 9, according to DroneXL, that it was in talks to raise $100 million at a valuation above $2 billion.

Three Disclosures Would Let Taxpayers and Investors Judge This Round

Revenue, named build sites with volumes, and the board’s independence rules are the three disclosures that would let British, American and Ukrainian taxpayers, and private investors, test a $6 billion price on systems whose battlefield statistics remain company claims. Whether British yards build boats at the pace the fund’s announcement implies is the open question.

Currency conversions in this article are approximate and use exchange rates as of Nov. 12, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much public money is in UFORCE’s $700 million round?

The only public figure is the National Wealth Fund’s £113 million (approximately $150 million USD) investment, reported by Securities.io. The U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, seeded with $75 million from a U.S. agency and matched by Ukraine, has no disclosed share in the coverage reviewed.

Where will UFORCE’s drone boats be built?

Three answers exist: the UK announcement describes British production with more than 70 percent British content, the chief executive says output is centered in Ukraine, and a July memorandum points to U.S. production in Oregon and South Carolina. No site, volume or start date appears in the coverage reviewed.

Is UFORCE profitable?

UFORCE has not said. Its only financial claims are bookings that more than doubled in a year from a base of several hundred million dollars, and an earlier 450 percent bookings-growth claim for 2025, neither audited publicly.

Does Cavoli’s role at Valor affect UFORCE’s board oversight?

Cavoli is a Valor partner and a new UFORCE director, so he sits on the investor and company sides of the same deal, according to Securities.io’s account of the round. None of the coverage reviewed says how the board will separate the roles or whether he counts as independent.