A drone company backed by Erik Prince—the Blackwater founder and an ally to President Trump—is buying one of Ukraine’s leading makers of battlefield robots, an early sign of consolidation across the country’s sprawling drone industry.
Swarmer, which was founded in Ukraine but is now based in Austin, Texas, said it is buying Ratel Robotics in a cash-and-stock deal valued at up to $224 million, making it one of the industry’s largest tie-ups. Ratel makes unmanned ground vehicles, while Swarmer
A drone company backed by Erik Prince—the Blackwater founder and an ally to President Trump—is buying one of Ukraine’s leading makers of battlefield robots, an early sign of consolidation across the country’s sprawling drone industry.
Swarmer, which was founded in Ukraine but is now based in Austin, Texas, said it is buying Ratel Robotics in a cash-and-stock deal valued at up to $224 million, making it one of the industry’s largest tie-ups. Ratel makes unmanned ground vehicles, while Swarmer builds the artificial-intelligence software that lets aerial drones coordinate in swarms. Swarmer is also backed by an investment vehicle tied to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
The deal comes amid a broader push by U.S. investors and defense firms into Ukraine, whose battlefield-tested drone technology has drawn Western interest.
Ukraine’s drone sector is among the world’s largest and most advanced, built on technologies the country pioneered in its war with Russia. But it is also crowded: more than 500 drone companies now chase the same military orders, and some executives expect many to be bought up or squeezed out.
“From the perspective of Ukrainian companies, most of them can’t develop the infrastructure necessary to sell worldwide,” said Alex Fink, the U.S. CEO of Swarmer. “So they are looking for partners that can give them resources and give them reach.”
Prince, Swarmer’s chairman, said in an interview the company wants to continue to acquire and partner with defense and security technology companies whose products are battlefield tested.
The deal marks the latest Ukrainian tie-up.
Last year, Ukrainian drone maker Vyriy Industries bought a controlling interest in five local defense-tech companies. U.S. investment firm MITS Capital consolidated four Ukrainian defense businesses into one larger company, called MITS Industries. A drone company owned by Francisco Serra-Martins, an Australian drone executive, recently bought a small Ukrainian peer.
Ukrainian military units procure a lot of their own drones rather than go through a centralized procurement process, which has contributed to the industry fragmentation.
“The barrier to entry for starting a drone company is low as 1,500 combat commands can buy whatever they think works best for them,” said Perry Boyle, CEO of MITS Capital.
Still, the barriers to scaling are high, as financing costs are expensive and often depend on getting large government contracts, he said. Separately, companies like Swarmer and some of those owned by MITS, are incorporating abroad.
“The United States has the best capital markets in the world…and the largest defense market, so it makes sense to be here,” Prince said.
The former Navy SEAL sold his controversial private security contracting company, Blackwater, in 2010. He is now expanding his work with defense technology startups and has become a confidant of Trump and his advisers. Prince recently formed Vectus Air Defense Systems alongside Swarmer to provide companies, militaries and governments with the design and operation of customized air-defense systems.
Swarmer produced the technology behind one of the first known routine uses of swarm technology in combat, where drones can coordinate on attacking a target.
Its software allows groups of drones to decide which one strikes first and adapt if, for instance, one runs out of battery. The software, which was first deployed in April 2024, has now completed more than 100,000 combat missions, the company said.
Ratel Robotics, which produced street lighting before the war, said it won orders for around 37% of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense budget for unmanned ground vehicles in the first four months of this year. Unmanned ground vehicles have become a vital part of Ukraine’s war efforts, including being used in 112,000 logistics and evacuation missions since the beginning of this year.
Write to Alistair MacDonald at Alistair.Macdonald@wsj.com
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