Startup Competition, Ukraine’s largest and most reputable startup contest, held as part of IT Arena 2025, once again broke its own records. The participants secured the largest investments in the competition’s history and received significant cash prizes to further develop their products. Arena Lviv Stadium was transformed into an epicenter of creativity and innovation, sparking ideas that are reshaping technology, business, and the defense sector. Ukrainian teams once again proved that, even against the backdrop of a full-scale war, business continues to grow and deliver world-class products
Unstoppable energy, fierce fight to the finals
The organizers set a new record this year, receiving 202 applications from teams around the world — including Warsaw, Berlin, Tallinn, Kaunas, Minnesota, Boston, Dundee, and even Hong Kong. 60 of the most promising startups advanced to the semi-finals, pitching their ideas and solutions in two categories: general and special for defense tech startups and cyber defense projects.
Over two intense days, participants impressed the judges with ambitious products in finance, healthcare and mental health, education, agriculture, real estate, logistics, and marketing, as well as AI-driven solutions and defense technologies. Each pitch reflected a drive to solve real-world problems. 12 teams, 6 per category, earned their coveted spots in the grand finale.
Startup Competition culmination: who determined the finalists’ fate
The thrilling Startup Competition Finals traditionally marked the end of IT Arena’s second day and drew huge excitement among attendees. Participants competed for a $60,000 prize fund, which was distributed among six main winners. Half of the sum was provided by the Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF), and the other half was provided by Brave1 defense cluster.
The finalists’ pitches were delivered from the main stage of IT Arena. This year, the Startup Competition Finals was hosted by Viacheslav Drofa, CPO at Alty, also known as the musical artist OTOY, whose work combines social awareness with a contemporary sound.
Each team had just 7 minutes to present their idea and answer questions from the jury of leading entrepreneurs and investors from across Europe and Ukraine.
This year, the winners in the general category were determined by:
The best defense startups were selected by:
Defense tech of the future: top three teams
Dwarf Engineering won the defense category with its B2B platform, which connects developers of autonomous control systems to manufacturers of UAVs, UGVs, munitions, and surface and underwater drones. The team received $15,000 for developing their product.
“Right now, we are the first on the market. Of course, other teams may have similar solutions, but they are made for their own purposes, while our development can be used by anyone. Currently, our technical capabilities allow us to provide an autonomous system for a large number of manufacturers in a short time. This is a direct path to accelerating Ukraine’s defense capability, which is our main priority,” emphasized Vladyslav Piotrovskyi, Co-Founder and CEO of Dwarf Engineering.
The company already has several clients among Ukrainian drone manufacturers, as well as the first serial modules.
“At IT Arena, several companies from different defense industry niches approached us, and all of them said they face the problem of serial software delivery. That’s why they want to collaborate with us. So, winning the Startup Competition 2025 only confirmed the need for our product. We received a lot of feedback and understood that we are on the right track,” Vladyslav concluded.
$10,000, and second place went to the BabAI startup, a developer and manufacturer of electronic warfare (EW) tools for drone protection. Thanks to artificial intelligence technologies, these EW systems operate fully automatically, allowing effective responses to threats without operator intervention. The company’s products demonstrated high efficiency in real combat conditions, safeguarding crews and equipment from enemy FPVs and other UAVs. One of BabAI’s EW tools’ advantages is invisibility: in “silent mode,” the system does not emit signals into the air, providing additional safety and camouflage for military personnel.
The third place with a prize of $5,000 was taken by Bravo Dynamics. The company developed a mesh system for ground robots — Phantom 3.0. It ensures stable communication without the need for aerial relays, even under heavy EW conditions. Bravo Dynamics already has initial contracts worth about $25,000, including an agreement with Dwarf Engineering for the supply of Phantom systems.
From medical innovations to corporate security solutions
First place in the general category and the main prize of Startup Competition — $15,000 — was awarded to the Ukrainian startup Ovul. The team developed the world’s first home fertility tracker for women. The idea came after the wife of one of the startup’s co-founders struggled to conceive for a long time. The team realized that existing home ovulation tracking methods were already outdated. They created a digital microscope that analyzes saliva samples using artificial intelligence.
“The procedure is very simple. A woman opens our device and applies a drop of saliva onto the slide. That’s it. No other consumables. After the saliva dries, the result is sent directly to the app, regardless of the woman’s location. Our device is fully autonomous, works via Wi-Fi. Users also receive daily useful tips on physical and mental activity, as well as nutrition recommendations,” says Ihor Kovalenko, CTO and Co-Founder of Ovul.
It took almost three years from idea to implementation. The team has already sold over 200 devices worldwide, including in the US market. The standard price is $189, which includes a one-year subscription. The cost may vary depending on the subscription model.
“We need investment to scale up and complete costly certifications. Moreover, we want to expand into a full-fledged women’s health platform,” he added.
Second place in the general category went to the startup Heft. The team received $10,000 for the development of their product — a health and fertility monitoring system for cows. This gadget helps monitor animal behavior, tracks reproductive cycles, and detects health issues at an early stage, assisting farmers in optimizing reproduction and increasing herd productivity.
The third place in this category went to StackBob, whose participants received $5,000 from the prize fund. Additionally, the team received a special award of $7,000 from Vector Media and Linkos Group, which together established their own prize for the most interesting startup.
Record-breaking investments and first arrangements
This year, the Startup Competition investment fund reached a record sum. Even before the finals, startups secured soft commitments from investors totaling $15,000,000. Among the investment companies, venture funds, and clubs that declared readiness to invest in Ukrainian projects were Tilla Ventures, 1991 VC, Radix VC, Presto VC, Vesna Capital, DTI, Geir Myhre, UAN, Yaradin, DEPO Ventures, Wolver Ventures, NewFrontier Fund, Rockaway Ventures, Purpose Tech, and MITS Capital.
According to investors, when making decisions about funding startups, they primarily focus on the teams and their leaders.
“We look for great founders because, first of all, we invest in people, and you need to convince us that you are the best. Obviously, we also want to see what you are building and how well you understand the needs you are going to solve,” commented Petr Sima, Founder and Partner of DEPO Ventures.
Teams that managed to convince experts of the potential of their products already got an opportunity to raise nearly $2,500,000 — another record in Startup Competition’s history. The distribution is as follows:
Besides this, the Ukrainian-American investment group MITS Capital has announced its intent to invest in five teams: Blue Arrow, DroneMate AI, Zmiyar, STOZHAR, and SlimBeam. The founders of these startups have received soft commitments to join the MITS LAB and MITS Accelerator programs, with the accelerator currently forming its third batch. Successful graduates of the MITS Accelerator receive $200,000: 50% in the form of direct investment, and the remaining 50% as legal, consulting, educational, and mentoring support, network building, achieving product-market fit, and facilitating fundraising and scaling.
Also, 1991 VC continues negotiations for $500,000 with selected teams, and Double Tap Investments is agreeing on final amounts with DroneMate, Strug, and Barvinok5.
The co-organizers of IT Arena Startup Competition 2025 — IT Arena, Brave1, and USF.
Startup Stage Partner — u.ventures
Pitch Partner — keywords.agency
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
Startup Competition, Ukraine’s largest and most reputable startup contest, held as part of IT Arena 2025, once again broke its own records. The participants secured the largest investments in the competition’s history and received significant cash prizes to further develop their products. Arena Lviv Stadium was transformed into an epicenter of creativity and innovation, sparking […]
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