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Dear Investors and Friends of D3,
May 25 marked Kyiv Day, a holiday celebrating one of Europe’s most historic and resilient capitals. This year the celebration unfolded under the now-familiar backdrop of air raid alerts and drone attacks.
If you were in Kyiv these past three nights, your phone would have looked like mine—buzzing nonstop with air raid alerts. We’ve learned to live with sirens. They’re background noise now. But this wave of hybrid attacks are much different. They combine unprecedented volumes of ballistic and cruise missiles with swarms of long-range Shahed drones of varying generations. The nights are filled with the chaotic soundtrack of war: Patriot systems intercepting threats, Shaheds buzzing overhead like oversized lawnmowers, machine gun fire, Gepards, ZU-23-2s, and even the occasional overly enthusiastic neighbor joining the defense effort. (For context, Ukraine offers a $10,000 bounty to anyone who brings down a Shahed drone.)
My phone screen on Kyiv Day 2025
On Saturday night alone, Ukraine faced:
The MoD estimates that Russian Shahed drone production may reach 70,000 units annually by year-end. Despite these numbers, Ukraine is adapting quickly. A number of semi-autonomous domestic interceptor systems are now in the field, alongside one fully autonomous international solution that is currently scaling production. Most interceptors cost under $10,000 per unit and are targeting an 80%+ effectiveness rate—a critical development when defending against $100,000 Shaheds. All currently deployed interceptor systems—including those developed by international partners—are being assembled inside Ukraine, reinforcing local capacity and accelerating deployment timelines. Our German portfolio company, Tytan Technologies, successfully completed field testing of its fully autonomous interceptors in Western Ukraine last week. The systems are now scheduled for active combat deployment with the 412th Battalion "Nemesis" starting in June.
As the asymmetry in this conflict evolves, so too does Ukraine’s ability to restore its technological edge.
Total = 700 (+42)
Chariot Follow-on
This month, we closed a $300K follow-on investment into Chariot, a company building advanced battery systems designed to power high-consumption equipment on the battlefield. Their technology addresses a critical and growing need for mobile, resilient energy solutions in frontline conditions.
Chariot is expected to be on the ground in Ukraine next month, conducting in-the-field customer development with multiple military units and electronic warfare (EW) teams. You can find the detailed investment case here:
New Founder Archetype: Servicemen Turned Technologists
We’re now seeing an interesting new founder archetype emerge: active-duty military teams who want to commercialize what they’ve built during the war. This month, we met with a COMINT unit focused on intercepting and processing enemy communications. Their AI-enabled system listens to hundreds of simultaneous conversations across the entire frontline and translates them into actionable insights—for everyone from platoon commanders to top-level Ukrainian generals.
Their technology is already being used to: