Valkyrie Dynamics, a Ukrainian-Lithuanian defence hardware company, has raised €1 million in a pre-seed round led by Paris-based venture studio Hexa, with defence tech angel investors also participating. The funds will go towards manufacturing the first version of its radar seeker, product development and hiring.
The company is headquartered in Lithuania and runs an R&D lab in Kyiv, which lets it iterate on hardware in days and work directly with Ukrainian frontline operators. It is preparing for what it calls "Shahed season", October to March, when longer nights and heavier cloud are expected to make attacks on Ukrainian cities more intense.
Its product, Heimdall, is a terminal guidance radar seeker that sits in the nose cone of an FPV interceptor. Most low-cost interceptors depend on optical and thermal cameras, which struggle in poor weather. In the last 100 to 500 metres, Heimdall gives the operator a radar view of the target instead. It also supports autonomous flight when paired with a partner's guidance module, while the engagement decision stays with a human pilot or the interceptor maker's systems.
The unit weighs about 100 grams, with a target price below €300 at volume. Valkyrie says Russia is shifting from propeller-driven Shaheds to faster jet-powered variants, which calls for quicker interceptors and sensors that can track them in any conditions. Flight tests have been run with Korven Systems, a Ukrainian-Estonian developer of interceptor autonomy software, and Valkyrie is integrating Heimdall with other guidance and interceptor makers.
Founder and CEO Marcin Kovalevskij, an engineering physicist who previously worked at CNRS and Exotrail, said the aim is to replace $3 million missiles with cheaper drone interceptors guided by more accessible radar. He moved to Kyiv with his equipment in two suitcases and spent five months sleeping on the floor of a factory that had earlier been hit by missiles. Valkyrie is the first Ukrainian team in Hexa Sprint Defense.
The roadmap includes seekers with longer detection range and a wider field of view, plus European technical integration hubs planned for late 2026 to serve NATO procurement programmes. The company also intends to bring the radar to ground vehicles and other unmanned platforms.
