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Home COUNTRY SCANDINAVIA&BALTICS

Drone warfare startup PDKINEMATICS raises €2 million for precision-guidance systems out of Lithuania

EU Startupsby EU Startups
June 17, 2026
Reading Time: 6 mins read
in SCANDINAVIA&BALTICS, VENTURE CAPITAL
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PDKINEMATICS, a Lithuanian defence engineering company, announced the close of a €2 million Seed round to scale manufacturing and expand deployments of the company’s precision guidance systems for UAVs across Europe and Ukraine.

The round was co-led by Coinvest Capital, Lithuania’s sovereign investment fund, and Iron Wolf Capital, an active defence investors in Europe – bringing the funding to a total of €3 million.

Rapolas Markevičius, CEO and co-founder of PDKINEMATICS, said: “We started working on precision guidance for UAVs because the battlefield was demanding something that did not exist: precision at altitude, at the cost and form factor of a mass-produced drone munition. The most capable guidance science in history was developed for large aircraft and expensive programmes that only superpowers could afford.

“We are rebuilding it for the platforms that actually dominate today’s battlefield, applying modern R&D on top of those proven guidance principles and packing them into manufacturable, deployable systems for modern UAV warfare. With this comes scale, deployment speed and cost-to-effect advantages for operators at significantly lower size and cost thresholds.“

PDKINEMATICS’ Seed round sits within a broader 2026 funding environment in which EU-Startups has tracked capital moving into drone autonomy, counter-UAS systems, UAV operations software, aerial intelligence and related defence infrastructure.

The largest comparable raise is Quantum Systems’ €150 million financing package, while earlier-stage rounds such as Occam Industries, Shotling, Mutable Tactics and AirHub show funding also reaching software, guidance, coordination and counter-drone layers of the UAV stack.

Overall, the reported activity suggests that PDKINEMATICS is entering a European market where capital is being allocated not only to drone platforms, but also to enabling technologies that improve autonomy, deployment, resilience and operational effectiveness.

Žygimantas Susnys, Founding Partner of Iron Wolf Capital, said: “Precision-guided systems are the future of modern warfare. The PDKINEMATICS team combines entrepreneurial drive with deep engineering talent and moves at the speed this moment demands. They have earned credibility in Ukraine, and we believe it positions them to become a defining defence technology company for NATO allies.”

Founded in 2025, PDKINEMATICS is a precision guidance systems company developing engineering solutions for the UAV era. Its technology is reportedly validated in active conflict and designed for NATO defence supply chains, as well as platforms serving UAV manufacturers, defence integrators, and European armed forces. 

The company grew out of a response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when private equity expert Rapolas Markevičius and aerospace engineer Simonas Stasevičius began developing precision-guided munitions for UAVs.

Dominykas Rinkevičius joined as co-founder and head of engineering in 2025.

Today’s raise comes amid the global scaling of drone capabilities, as the war in Ukraine continues to highlight the growing importance of drones and electronic warfare.

It also aligns with EU initiatives such as the European Drone Defence Initiative, one of the flagship projects under the Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030. In February, five European allies, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK, launched LEAP, a joint effort to develop low-cost autonomous air-defence systems and drone-based strike capabilities, drawing on lessons from Ukraine’s battlefield experience.

However, the company outlines that without precision guidance systems, their combat potential remains limited.

PDKINEMATICS was purpose-built to develop, deliver and scale precision guidance capability at the speed and cost that modern drone warfare demands, bridging battlefield-validated technology into NATO defence supply chains.

The portfolio includes both end products and enabling technologies for precision guidance and strike systems, serving UAV manufacturers, defence integrators, and European armed forces.

The company has already signed a strategic partnership with Bavovna.ai, one of Ukraine’s largest bomber-class UAV manufacturers. PDKINEMATICS’ systems are now integrated into Bavovna’s platforms and deployed in battlefield conditions.

This has created a framework for the system’s deployment across Ukraine and NATO, with pilot milestones already completed on both sides. Beyond Ukraine, the company has partnered with SiraLab, an Italian UAV manufacturer, as part of its European go-to-market.

PDKINEMATICS’ systems were also selected for Iron Wolf 2026, Lithuania’s largest international military exercises.

Viktorija Trimbel, Managing Director of Coinvest Capital, co-founder and board member of Defence Angels European Network, says: “Precision guidance is becoming the foundational capability of modern drone warfare, and PDKINEMATICS is building it at the cost and speed the market demands. This company was first brought to our attention by experienced defence angels in our network.

“Together with the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union we invited the team to The Flaming Shield to stress-test the solution and gather direct feedback from military end-users. That is when we started putting the deal together. This is exactly the kind of company the Baltic defence ecosystem needs to be producing: deep technology, battle-validated, and with a clear path to NATO-scale deployment.

“We are proud to see a fellow defence-focused fund joining the round, and proud to back a team providing such an important contribution to Europe’s defence directly from Vilnius.”

Gannet, the company’s flagship product, is a low-SWaP-C (size, weight, power, cost) precision-guidance system for UAVs that enables operators to fly up to 700 metres, up to six times higher than with unguided munitions, without sacrificing accuracy.

In Ukraine alone, approximately 300,000 drone-deployed munitions are dropped monthly, almost all unguided. On top of this, the Gannet system is jam-resistant, platform-agnostic, capable of operating in challenging weather, and designed to integrate across diverse UAV types in under four weeks from handshake to first flight.

Alongside Gannet, PDKINEMATICS is developing a portfolio of proprietary engineered components for integration by UAV manufacturers: a proximity fuse for armoured-target engagement to be integrated into loitering munitions and interceptors, and a suite of counter-EW components.

Looking ahead, the company aims to become a main precision guidance technology provider for NATO-aligned UAV manufacturers, bridging battlefield-validated technology from Ukraine into European defence supply chains.

A NATO member state naval deployment is already in the pipeline, marking the first naval application of the system and a landmark for Baltic defence technology.

Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/06/drone-warfare-startup-pdkinematics-raises-e2-million-for-precision-guidance-systems-out-of-lithuania/

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