Byne, a Ukrainian startup developing artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for the defense and civil sectors, has raised $325,000 in its first round of funding. As the co-founder of Byne Borys Nadykto said, the round was led by one of the famous British venture funds, which in the public space wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the defense-tech domain.
About Byne
Byne was founded in 2022 as a volunteer project to create a secure infrastructure for the deployment of large language models (LLM) for partners in the Defense Forces of Ukraine. The founders of Byne are Borys Nadykto, Andrii Yakovyna and Denis Budnyk. Later, the startup began to cooperate with service companies, helping them with projects where powerful AI expertise is needed. Now Byne plans to expand its partner program to include outsourcing and product companies.
“Our task is to become the first supplier of intelligence solutions with Ukrainian roots for NATO countries,” says Borys Nadykto.
Funds raised within this round will be used for:
Funding the first major partnership with one of NATO's largest defense contractors (name intentionally withheld due to time-consuming approval process) to create a secure infrastructure for LLM deployment.Establishing a partner program for service companies that need access to LLM's enterprise deployment expertise and solutions .
“We are planning to conduct a large round of financing in the amount of $2-3 million already next year, if the agreements we are working on in the military sector and in the civilian sector materialize,” adds Borys Nadykto.
The startup is registered in Great Britain, and Byne is also active in the SSHP market. However, the majority of the team is in Ukraine.