$1.6 M to combat drones: Ukrainian-American startup Thermopylae attracts investment to develop interceptors

Thermopylae, a startup founded by a 21-year-old Ukrainian engineer, announced that it had successfully raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed round.

Launched in June, the company specializes in developing low-cost interceptor drones to counter mass air threats.

Founding story

• The startup, named after the famous battle of the Spartans, was founded by Yehor Balytskyi, a self-taught engineer. Balytskyi left Ukraine at the age of 17 after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

• Before moving to the US, he worked for leading European companies in the fields of cybersecurity and distributed systems.

• Thermopylae is creating an ultra-lightweight folding quadcopter that launches from a standard mortar-like tube. This system is designed to have enough power to take down UAVs.

The interceptor drone is powered by an electric motor, uses thermal guidance, can reach speeds of up to 350 km/h with a payload, and has a target flight time of up to 20 minutes.

The expected cost per unit is less than $10,000. In addition, it has a partial reuse feature: if the interceptor misses its target, it can be retrieved and easily restored.

Investors and plans

Funding in the amount of $1.6 million was received from Naval Ravikant and the UA1 venture fund, with the participation of Norgard Capital and a number of angel investors.

Ivan Taranenko, head of UA1, noted that Thermopylae combines “deep technical expertise and speed of development.”

With the funding secured, Thermopylae plans to return to Ukraine to begin testing its interceptor with frontline units and ramp up production capacity.

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