Meta Bureau, a Ukrainian developer and manufacturer of integrated UAV systems, joins Defence Builder’s fourth accelerator cohort as a partner. The company will co-fund grants for selected teams and share its engineering and manufacturing expertise to help them move from working prototypes to serial production.
Meta Bureau brings experience in developing and scaling UAV systems used by Ukraine’s Defence Forces, supported by its own R&D, composite manufacturing and operator training.
"We know firsthand what it takes to build and scale a drone company in Ukraine during a full-scale war. And we see our mission as investing in the next generation of defence tech companies to help them transition successfully from prototype to serial production in Ukraine. Sharing capital, expertise, and operational experience is a practical contribution to the long-term development of Ukraine’s defence industry,” said Vladyslav Kryklii, Founder of Meta Bureau.
The partnership gives Batch 4.0 teams:
additional grant funding from a Ukrainian manufacturer whose systems work on the battlefield;
answers on production, component sourcing and field integration from engineers who deal with them every day;
advice from a team that started with a prototype in 2022 and has already gone from first tests to serial production.
"Teams at the prototype stage need two things: money for the next iteration of the product and people who have already taken their own product into serial production. Meta Bureau provides both. It matters to us that this contribution comes from inside the sector, from a company that was recently in our participants' place," said Yana Shkvarovska, Chief Operating Officer of DB Accelerator.
DB Accelerator Batch 4.0 accepts defence and dual-use teams from any country with a working prototype at TRL 4 or above. The programme runs for four months starting in November 2026 and combines a military track, with field days and demonstrations to procurement officers and end users, and a business track covering unit economics, IP, export, production and fundraising. Selected teams receive a starting grant in exchange for a minority equity stake, with additional funding from partners during the programme based on performance.
Applications for Batch 4.0 are open until 15 November: defencebuilder.com/batch4-application-form
Programme details: defencebuilder.com/batch4
