On January 23, Frontline announced a new round of funding from Nezlamni, an investment firm backed by the founders of Uklon. It marked the startup’s third investment in just two months. In December 2024, Frontline secured $150,000 from Angel One and $100,000 from Startup Wise Guys.
The company is currently in the middle of a seed round, aiming to raise $800,000. According to the founders, they’ve already closed half the round. Originally, the team dreamed of raising $5 million, but that goal remains on the horizon. So, how is Frontline evolving?
How Frontline Started
In the summer of 2023, four co-founders — Yevhen, Pavlo, Oleksii, and Oleksandr — were working at a defense robotics company. But they wanted to build something scalable that every soldier on the front line could use. Their ultimate goal is to significantly boost the strength of assault units, quantitatively and qualitatively.
After many late-night talks, they made a bold decision: to work «for ourselves and for free.» Their first focus was developing EW-resistant control modules for FPV and bomber drones — solutions that required fewer resources but delivered high impact.
They rented a tiny, poorly renovated office — stiflingly hot in the summer and freezing in the winter — and got to work on their first prototypes while simultaneously looking for funding.
Raising Startup Capital
That original $5 million target? In hindsight, it was incredibly ambitious and unrealistic. 🙂
Eventually, they connected through mutual contacts with a Ukrainian in the US who had money and was eager to invest in a meaningful cause.
The team scaled back their proposal, presented it, received feedback, and went back to the drawing board — again and again.
Finally, on the fourth pitch, just when they’d lost hope, Oleksandr decided to back their first project: a reconnaissance drone.
Later, in Kyiv, they pitched a broader vision of robotic assault (including multiple robots, computer vision, and homing capabilities) to the American D3 investment firm. After a long silence, they were invited to a technical interview with a US defense expert.
The meeting was intense: lots of challenges, debates, and a full technical review of their ideas and team.
That effort paid off — D3 invested in their pre-seed round.
Challenges and Breakthroughs
Many startups begin the same way: just an idea and a surge of energy. It’s a magical time — pure creativity.
Then comes success. But it almost never looks like what you originally envisioned. There are compromises, growing pains, but also real progress.
At this point, the focus shifts from ideas to building, scaling, and maintaining a real product.
And that’s when the hard, often unglamorous, work starts: fixing bugs, setting up production, managing a growing team. The creative spark makes way for routine — but essential — tasks. This is the normal, necessary evolution of any serious project. And you have to be ready for it.
Frontline’s key strength is its team. They bring deep technical expertise, as well as direct communication with the military — many of whom are friends and former colleagues. At the same time, they’re serious about business operations: management, legal, and financial infrastructure.
They don’t see other Ukrainian manufacturers as competition, but as partners — united in building a technological edge for victory.
What Frontline Builds
Frontline’s product lineup reflects its mission: in the wars of today and tomorrow, humans will fight with the help of robots. Their goal is to reduce the number of people directly exposed to combat by creating robotic solutions that take on those risks.
So far, they’ve built and deployed three key products:
- Linza — an EW-resistant bomber drone, in both day and night versions
- ZOOM — an EW-resistant reconnaissance drone, also in day and night versions
- Burya — a remote weapon station for the MK-19 grenade launcher
But no matter how advanced a device is, it’s useless if you can’t control it. That’s why Frontline’s core innovation is a proprietary communication platform designed to work even under heavy electronic warfare conditions.
All of their products are actively used on the front line, supporting Ukraine’s Armed Forces Operation.
Production is based in Ukraine, and by the end of the year, Frontline aims to become the country’s largest manufacturer of reconnaissance drones and fire-support turrets.
Their client is a Ukrainian military. They collaborate closely with frontline units to gather feedback and continuously improve product performance.
Funding and the Road Ahead
As of January 2025, Frontline has already closed half of its seed round and expects to share more funding news soon.
To recap, the company is currently raising $800,000 in this round. In 2023, it closed a pre-seed round with the investment firm D3 and a private investor. It also received three grants totaling UAH 6 million from the Brave1 defense tech cluster.
