[Ryan Robertson]
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, WEAPONS AND WARFARE HAS GONE INTERNATIONAL!
WE’RE ON THE GROUND IN UKRAINE AS SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN DEFENSE ARE HERE TO HELP THE CAUSE.
WE GO INSIDE THE SECOND EVER DEFENSE TECH VALLEY, ONE OF EUROPE’S FLAGSHIP DEFENSE TECH INVESTMENT SUMMITS.
HELLO AND WELCOME TO WEAPONS AND WARFARE. WHERE OUR GOAL IS TO GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO HAVE AN INFORMED CONVERSATION ABOUT NATIONAL DEFENSE WITH YOUR CO-WORKER, YOUR NEIGHBOR, OR SIGNIFICANT OTHER.
FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M YOUR HOST, RYAN ROBERTSON, AND AS YOU CAN SEE, WE ARE OUT OF THE STUDIO AND ON THE ROAD. IN FACT, WE’RE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC. IN LVIV, UKRAINE, FOR BRAVE-1’s DEFENSE TECH VALLEY SUMMIT AND EXPOSITION 2025.
FOR THE UNFAMILIAR, BRAVE1 IS AN INITIATIVE FROM THE UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT, CREATED TO SPEED UP THE GROWTH AND USE OF CUTTING-EDGE DEFENSE TECHNOLOGIES.
THINK OF IT AS A HUB THAT BRINGS TOGETHER INNOVATORS, THE MILITARY, AND INVESTORS. AND THAT’S WHY IT’S THE SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK’S DEBRIEF.
ALL RIGHT, FOLKS, I’M JOINED NOW BY ARTEM AROZ THE HEAD OF INVESTOR RELATIONS FOR BRAVE 1. ARTEM, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY. YES, THANK YOU FOR COMING SO TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS SHOW. IT’S DESIGNED TO GET EUROPEAN AMERICAN INVESTMENT INTO UKRAINIAN DEFENSE PRODUCTS.
[Artem Moroz, Investor Relations Dir. Brave 1]
“Exactly. So. Last year we had our first edition. We had people from around 30 countries, mostly 1500 people. And 100 people, and we saw a huge success of it. And the idea is exactly, we want to have more investors from Europe, from the United States, from other parts of the world, to invest in Ukrainian technologies to build, together with Ukraine, those technologies are able to protect Ukraine and also the allies. This year we are doing the second edition, and it’s actually, according to our knowledge should be the biggest investment summit focused on defense tech in the world. We do have representatives of more than 50 countries. We do have 1000s of people coming from the investor side, from company side, from startups to scale ups. So a huge range of different opportunities.”
[Ryan Robertson]
LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT HUGE RANGE OF DEFENSIVE CONTRACTORS. I SEE A LOT OF UAVS, A LOT OF UGVS. THERE’S SOME DRONE INTERCEPTORS? IS THERE ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR THAT YOU’RE WANTING MORE INVESTMENT INTO ANY KIND OF TECHNOLOGY THAT BRAVE ONE REALLY WANTS TO SEE SOME INVESTMENT?
[Artem Moroz, Investor Relations Dir. Brave 1]
“So for us, we don’t focus on legacy solutions. We believe that our core value and strength is in technology. So we want to focus on new generation defense. Let’s say we work a lot with unmanned systems on all domains, from air, ground, water and underwater. We also focus a lot on artificial intelligence, because our idea is that we want to move people away from the front line. We want to save the lives, and in order to make that, you need to make equipment smarter. And artificial intelligence is coming. There also electronic warfare systems and signal intelligence. That is actually another point. It’s critical. It’s like fundamental, plus the communication systems to connect all the different platforms that operate now on the front line.”
[Ryan Robertson]
EARLIER TODAY, THERE WAS A PRESS CONFERENCE. THERE WERE SEVERAL INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS THAT WERE ANNOUNCED. CAN YOU KIND OF WALK THROUGH SOME OF THOSE THAT HAVE COME OUT DURING THE SHOW?
[Artem Moroz, Investor Relations Dir. Brave 1]
“Yeah, absolutely. So we have tried to business breach as Bray one to connect its private investors with Ukrainian defense ecosystem, because it still because it’s still quite close, and a lot of investors, especially international, they don’t understand, how does it get in? So what we do? We signed today agreements with more than $100 million of the investment into Ukrainian companies, in startups and scale ups all the different kinds, from funds from Europe, from also from the US and also today, there was the biggest investment round on Ukraine defense tech announced, actually a company working on the swarming technology for drones. Latin one operator control multiple drones at once as they raised their series A $16 million round from US investors.”
[Ryan Robertson]
THAT’S GREAT. THAT’S GREAT. NOW I KIND OF WANT TO KNOW ABOUT WHEN WE’RE WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE FOR THIS CONFERENCE, RIGHT? $100 MILLION RIGHT? THAT’S BIGGEST INVESTMENT IN DEFENSE TECH THAT YOU MENTIONED. BUT I IMAGINE THAT’S NOT GOING TO BE WHERE YOU WANT TO STOP, RIGHT? I MEAN, RUSSIA HAS MORE THAN $100 MILLION WORTH OF WEAPONS. SO WHAT, WHERE DO YOU GAUGE SUCCESS?
[Artem Moroz, Investor Relations Dir. Brave 1]
“So we definitely don’t manage success in terms of like investment amounts, because the impact that we want to create is on the battlefield. Those investments is extra resources that companies should have, in addition to grants that we give us, addition to contracts. But we need to do as much as we can to get resources from all the places to invest them into the technologies. Keep the technologies cutting edge, keep them always one step ahead of Russians. And then at some point, we believe this technology will have global potential, and those companies can become unicorns. Together with our partners.”
[Ryan Robertson]
I WANT TO PICK UP ON THAT POINT, THE GLOBAL POTENTIAL OF SO MUCH OF THIS TECH, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, AMERICAN DEFENSE CONTRACTORS, THERE WAS FOLKS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR WHO JUST SAID UKRAINE IS WAY AHEAD OF US ON DRONE TECHNOLOGY, TALK ABOUT THE ROLE THAT UKRAINE IS PLAYING TO BE THE SPRINGBOARD OF ALL KINDS OF DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE FUTURE.
[Artem Moroz, Investor Relations Dir. Brave 1]
“Actually, that’s a good point, because I just had a conversation with one US startup who will be pitching tomorrow at our event. They are doing visual navigation for drones, so essentially letting drones operate in GNSS denied environment, and they were looking for the platform where they would put this like module to let drones fly in the US. They couldn’t find a platform that is fitting them. Particularly here they found it in two hours. That is like, about the variety, about the ecosystem, about getting it more mature. ”
[Ryan Robertson]
WHAT ELSE DO WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BRAVE ONE BEFORE I LET YOU GO?
[Artem Moroz, Investor Relations Dir. Brave 1]
“So brave one we actually today United was in 2000 companies. Just to understand the scale of this ecosystem, we have been the biggest governmental investor in the companies, providing the grants and giving us the first boost, and also decreasing the risk for investors that are coming today, because we as a government have already invested in those companies. We help them move away from the prototype idea to something that’s already working the front line. So we invite investors from all the parts of the globe to come to see the technologies, to know that they have been working, indeed, not on like decks and not on the pictures, but really on the front line. Invest in them and become part of this like success story, both like from moral perspective, because we all want to protect democracies, but also commercially. These companies will become big and it will become important globally.”
[Ryan Robertson]
YEAH, ABSOLUTELY. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY. ERIC, APPRECIATE IT.
