UForce reached a £4.5bn valuation after raising more than £500m from investors including the UK government, in an England drone deal that deepens the UK’s role in a company built around sea systems. Oleg Rogynskyy said the money would let UForce scale up production for Ukraine and its allies.
Britain’s national wealth fund put £113m into the London-based naval drone maker founded by Ukrainians. UForce makes military drones for land, air and sea, and its drones have been used extensively in the war in Ukraine.
Wes Streeting and HMS Prince of Wales
On Thursday, Wes Streeting met Rogynskyy onboard HMS Prince of Wales during a defence conference in Oslo, Norway, and piloted a UForce MV7 uncrewed vessel located more than 1,500 miles away in the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal. Streeting said, “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.” He also said, “Bringing battle-tested expertise to the UK will create high-skilled jobs, spur innovation and strengthen our war-fighting readiness, enhancing our ability to deter our adversaries.”
UK supply chain for UForce
The Ministry of Defence said UForce would invest in a British supply chain as part of the deal, with hulls, engines, electronics and fit-out sourced in the UK. The Ministry of Defence said more than 70% of the content of each UK-built boat would come from British suppliers, turning the financing round into an industrial commitment as well as a valuation jump.
That sits alongside the company’s war record. Rogynskyy said the investment would allow UForce to scale up production for Ukraine and its allies, and said, “make aggression unaffordable.” He also said, “The war in Ukraine has shown that in an increasingly volatile world, effective defence requires systems that can keep improving as threats change.”
UForce board and next step
Antonio Gracias founded Valor Equity Partners, which is among UForce’s investors, while Christopher Cavoli, a retired US general who was Nato’s supreme allied commander for Europe until last year, will join UForce’s board. Ben Wallace is already on the board.
The open question now is when UForce will begin delivering the UK-built boats and how many will be produced. The company has the financing and the UK has signalled a supply chain built mostly from British suppliers, but the delivery timetable remains the piece readers will need next.
