Daria Yaniieva, President of Defence Builder Ecosystem, has been selected as one of four scholarship recipients for VC Unlocked: Silicon Valley 2026, joining the programme’s 13th global cohort this August.

Hosted by 500 Global in collaboration with the Stanford Engineering Center for Global & Online Education, VC Unlocked: Silicon Valley is an invite-only programme designed for emerging venture capital leaders from around the world. The two-week programme takes place on Stanford’s campus and combines practical investing frameworks, case studies, workshops, and direct access to experienced venture capitalists and Stanford faculty.

“This is one of the few programmes that focuses less on venture capital as theory and more on how investment decisions are actually made — how funds build conviction, how they evaluate founders, structure theses, and think about long-term portfolio strategy,” said Yaniieva. “For us, this is especially important because Ukraine’s defence tech sector is growing faster than global investors can fully understand it. We need stronger bridges between local founders and international capital.”

Yaniieva added that one of the main values of the programme will be the opportunity to bring global venture practices back into Defence Builder’s work with Ukrainian companies.

“Many of the founders we work with are building world-class technologies in drones, AI, electronic warfare, communications, robotics, and other critical sectors — often under wartime conditions and far outside the attention of Silicon Valley,” she said. “The more we understand how international investors think, assess risk, and make decisions, the better we can help Ukrainian companies become investment-ready and globally visible.”

Defence Builder Ecosystem was launched in 2024 by Sigma Software, Kyiv School of Economics, and Buntar Aerospace. Today, it operates as a full-cycle defence tech ecosystem combining an accelerator, venture fund, and market capabilities for the defence sector.