--- title: National Wealth Fund Puts £113 Million Into Drone Maker UFORCE, Its Largest Defence Investment description: The National Wealth Fund's largest defence investment backs UFORCE, the MAGURA sea-drone maker, in a $700 million round at a $6 billion valuation. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-11-14T18:53:44.529Z updated: 2026-11-14T18:53:44.544Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/national-wealth-fund-uforce-113-million-defence image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/uforce-magura-sea-drone-574782.webp categories: Business content_type: News region: Global publication: Sovereign Magazine schema_type: Article about: - type: Organization name: UFORCE description: Ukraine-founded, London-headquartered defence technology company that makes MAGURA uncrewed surface vessels, NEMESIS strike drones, LIUT ground robots and counter-drone systems. url: https://www.uforce.com - type: Organization name: National Wealth Fund description: UK public finance institution based in Leeds, wholly owned by HM Treasury, that invests in growth, clean energy, security and resilience. url: https://www.nationalwealthfund.org.uk --- Britain's National Wealth Fund is putting £113 million ($150 million) of equity into UFORCE, the Ukrainian-founded, London-headquartered maker of MAGURA sea drones, in what the fund says is [its largest defence investment to date](https://www.nationalwealthfund.org.uk/news-and-publications/news/national-wealth-fund-backs-uforce-to-strengthen-uk-defence-capability/). At the most recent Autumn Budget, the Chancellor directed the state-owned fund to sharpen its focus on strengthening Britain's security, resilience and industrial growth. Government money is going into drone makers in the US too: the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital [committed earlier this month to lend up to $450 million to US drone maker Neros](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/neros-archer-drone). The stake is part of a $700 million Series A that UFORCE announced on 12 November at a $6 billion valuation. Valor Equity Partners co-led the round with the National Wealth Fund. A second government-backed investor, the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF), also took part. Conor Coleman, who spoke for URIF as head of investments at the US International Development Finance Corporation, said the deal is "URIF's largest investment in the emerging technology sector to date." UFORCE was valued at just over $1 billion in March, when it raised $50 million in a round led by Shield Capital and Lakestar. Sifted reported in August that the company was seeking a valuation upwards of $4 billion, and Bloomberg reported in September that it was in talks to raise about $500 million at around $5 billion, with Valor leading. The announced round is $200 million larger than those reported talks and values the company $1 billion higher. At $6 billion, UFORCE is priced below Helsing, which raised $1.8 billion at $18 billion in July, and Quantum Systems, which raised $1.2 billion at $8 billion the same month, and above Berlin's Stark Defence, which raised $500 million at $3.5 billion in June, TNW reported. ## More Than 70% of Each UK-Built MAGURA Boat Will Come From British Suppliers The National Wealth Fund says its money will scale British production, engineering and delivery of UFORCE's MAGURA MV7 and MV11 boats and its NEMESIS strike drones, for the UK, Ukraine and allied countries. More than 70% of the content of each UK-built boat will come from British suppliers, with hulls, engines, electronics and fit-out sourced in the UK. UFORCE will expand its UK footprint, creating what the fund says will be hundreds of high-skilled jobs in engineering, software, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing, and will sponsor apprenticeships with British universities and colleges. The fund is based in Leeds and has £43.2 billion of finance to deploy. It is wholly owned by HM Treasury but operates independently of government, and its investments are meant to earn a return for the taxpayer and draw in private capital. The fund calls the UFORCE investment a concrete outcome of the 100-year partnership between the UK and Ukraine. ## Defence Secretary Wes Streeting Steered a MAGURA Boat From More Than 1,500 Miles Away On 12 November, Streeting piloted a MAGURA MV7 uncrewed surface vessel from the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in Norway, steering a boat more than 1,500 miles away in the Atlantic near Portugal. National Wealth Fund chief executive Oliver Holbourn and UFORCE chief executive Oleg Rogynskyy were with him. "This is exactly what the National Wealth Fund was set up to do," Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey said. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the investment "brings battle-tested expertise to the UK, creating high-skilled jobs and strengthening the defence industry we need to keep Britain and our partners secure." "The UK was an early supporter of Ukraine's defence technology ecosystem, listening to our challenges and helping us tackle them," Rogynskyy said. "We're pleased that UFORCE can now play a role in helping the UK develop its ecosystem in return." ## URIF's Money Will Pay for UFORCE's Staff and Research in Ukraine URIF's investment will support UFORCE's operations in Ukraine, including staffing, research and development and new products, the company says. The fund was set up under [the agreement US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signed with Ukraine in April 2025](https://www.dfc.gov/media/press-releases/urif-approves-additional-investments-and-partnerships-energy-and-critical), which Bessent says gives America "a direct stake in Ukraine's long-term peace and prosperity." Its first investment, in March, went to the emerging-technology company Sine Engineering, and its board has since approved deals in critical minerals and energy. "UFORCE reflects the kind of bold, innovative Ukrainian company URIF is built to support," Coleman said. ## UFORCE Brings Together Nine Ukrainian Defence Manufacturers UFORCE was formed from nine Ukrainian defence manufacturers that had worked together since Russia's full-scale invasion, and moved its headquarters to London partly to protect itself from sabotage, TNW reported in September. Its chairman and co-founder, Oleksiy Honcharuk, was Ukraine's prime minister from 2019 to 2020, and Ben Wallace, the former UK defence secretary, sits on its board. Rogynskyy previously built the sales software company People.ai. ## Former NATO Commander Christopher Cavoli Joins the UFORCE Board Christopher Cavoli, the retired general who was NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and is now a partner at Valor, joins the board with this round. Valor is run by SpaceX board member Antonio Gracias and has also invested in Anduril, Hadrian and Chaos Industries. Menlo Ventures, Xantium and Hiro Capital are new investors in UFORCE, and existing backers Shield Capital, Ballistic Ventures, Lakestar and Squadra increased their stakes. UFORCE makes MAGURA uncrewed surface vessels, NEMESIS strike drones, LIUT ground robots and PREDATOR counter-drone turrets, along with the command-and-control software that operates them. The company says MAGURA boats have contributed to the destruction of more than a dozen Russian warships in the Black Sea, and that NEMESIS drones have logged more than 300,000 combat flights across more than 100 units. UFORCE says it will use the new money to spread production across the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, making its systems close to where they are used. It has a partnership with ReconCraft to make MAGURA boats in the US and is a founding member of the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance. More on UFORCE is at [uforce.com](https://www.uforce.com). ## FAQ **Q: What is the purpose of the National Wealth Fund?** It is a UK public finance institution that invests to support the government's growth and clean energy ambitions as well as security and resilience. It can lend, take equity stakes or provide guarantees, and it also lends to local authorities across the UK. **Q: What else has the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund invested in?** On 2 October its board approved a critical-minerals platform with Ukraine's BGV Group focused on rare earths, beryllium and zirconium, an equity investment in a combined heat and power platform to restore war-damaged supplies, and debt financing for DTEK's 200 MW battery storage system across six sites in Ukraine.