London-based drone manufacturer UForce reached a $6 billion valuation on Thursday after securing $700 million in a funding round led by the UK government’s National Wealth Fund and Valor Equity Partners.
UForce plans to use the capital to scale manufacturing capacity across the United States, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. The company’s growth is a short-term bet on the persistence of the Ukraine-Russia war and a long-term bet on Europe continuing to increase its defense-tech spend.
“Governments and the technology ecosystem need to come together to develop cost-effective, interoperable, and autonomous platforms that are ready to fight now, and can evolve to meet future needs,” said Oleg Rogynskyy, the UForce chief executive.
On Thursday, UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting met with Rogynskyy aboard the HMS Prince of Wales in Oslo, Norway, where Streeting piloted a UForce MV7 uncrewed vessel located over 1,500 miles away in the Atlantic Ocean.
“Ukraine is rewriting the rules of warfare. In just a few years the UK has gone from training Ukraine to being trained by Ukraine, as they prove that who can innovate fastest is a key measure of modern military power,” UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said.
The latest funding round brings new leadership to the UForce board, including Christopher Cavoli, a retired US general who was Nato’s supreme allied commander for Europe until last year.
Cavoli is a partner at lead investor Valor Equity Partners, which was founded by Antonio Gracias, a former director of Tesla and a board member of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Other new investors joining the cap table include Menlo Ventures, Xantium, and Hiro Capital, while existing investors Shield Capital, Ballistic Ventures, Lakestar, and Squadra also participated in the round.
In May 2026, UForce appointed Sean Plankey to lead its US operations. Plankey came from the Coast Guard and was the person the administration tried to get appointed to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. He represented the company at a maritime drone forum in Tainan, Taiwan, highlighting the company’s push for cooperation in the region.
UForce focuses on multi-domain operations, integrating AI software to coordinate its autonomous platforms. The firm also produces the Predator anti-drone turret, which uses AI to automatically recognize and track targets.
The Ministry of Defence said that UForce would invest in a British supply chain as part of the deal, with hulls, engines, and electronics sourced in the UK.
The MoD said that more than 70 percent of the content of each UK-built boat would come from British suppliers. Rogynskyy has predicted that autonomous systems will eventually replace much of the military equipment currently operated by humans, including aircraft and naval vessels, 10 years from now.
“We were getting offers with much higher valuation, but we chose this one because of Valor and the rest of the investors,” UForce chief executive Oleg Rogynskyy said. “In terms of valuation to bookings, valuation to revenue, this is actually not an aggressive valuation,” he said. The company remains focused on its mission to help Ukraine defend itself, while using that expertise to help Western allies prevent future conflicts.