Key Developments:
Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation opens a public call for Ukrainian-language datasets
The state "Mriia" education platform launches an AI test generator, piloted in 150 schools
Drone-swarm startup Swarmer files for a Nasdaq IPO after a $15M Series A, reporting ~$310K in annual revenue
Ukrainian-founded Principle raises a $2M pre-seed led by SMRK VC and SMOK Ventures to build an AI platform
An IMI survey of 193 Ukrainian journalists founds that most media used AI only for support tasks in 2025, with 56% reporting moderate use
GOVERNMENT TECH & REGULATION
Ministry of Digital Transformation Opens Data Partnership Call for Ukraine’s National LLM
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation has started collecting Ukrainian-language text datasets to adapt a national large language model to the local context, which it says will later power AI assistants for both the public sector and private business. The ministry is seeking partners across media, publishers, universities, and companies, spanning datasets from journalism and academic materials to cultural heritage archives and corporate product descriptions, reviews, and documentation - while emphasizing legal safeguards for intellectual property and formal recognition of contributors in the final development report. The national LLM effort, launched with Kyivstar in June 2025, will be built on Google’s open Gemma 3 model, selected in December, with delays attributed to data rights constraints and hiring challenges for the technical team.
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Ukraine’s “Mriia” Education Ecosystem Rolls Out AI Test Generation, Expanding Pilot to 650 Schools
Ukraine’s state education ecosystem “Mriia” has launched its first AI-based feature, enabling teachers to generate student tests by selecting a topic from the curriculum calendar, with questions produced automatically from digitized content. To align outputs with the national program, the team digitized 1,300+ textbooks across 30 subjects, while keeping teachers in full control through editing and custom question options; the system can also propose grades after analyzing student answers, which teachers can confirm or change. The tool is currently piloted in 150 schools, where teachers have generated 4,000+ tasks and rated test quality at 8/10 on average, with expansion to 500 additional schools planned in the coming months before a broader rollout.
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CAPITAL MARKETS & DEFENSE TECH
Swarmer Files for Nasdaq IPO after $15M Series A; Discloses $33M+ Contracted Pipeline
Ukrainian drone-swarm software startup Swarmer - founded in May 2023 by Serhii Kupriienko and Alex Fink - has filed to list on the Nasdaq Capital Market after raising $15 million in a 2025 Series A, bringing total disclosed funding to nearly $20 million across 2023–2025 rounds. In the filing, the company reported revenue of $329,410 (2024) and $309,920 (2025), alongside widening losses of $2.1 million (2024) and $8.5 million (2025) as it prioritizes R&D and scaling. Swarmer also disclosed signed contracts totaling $16.3 million plus planned agreements of $16.8 million for 2026–2028, implying $33 million+ in committed and expected business, while positioning its swarm-control products for both military and civilian use cases (e.g., disaster response and infrastructure).
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FUNDING & STARTUPS
Principle Raises $2M Pre-Seed to Build AI-Driven Strategic Forecasting Platform
Ukrainian-founded startup Principle raised $2 million in a pre-seed round, led by SMRK VC and SMOK VC, with participation from RideHome AI Fund, a16z Scout Fund, Bain Capital Scout Fund, and Unpopular Ventures. The company is developing an AI platform for strategic forecasting that builds “digital twins” of companies, competitors, regulators, and market forces to simulate hundreds of strategy scenarios using continuously updated (“persistent”) models fed by market signals such as regulatory shifts, pricing moves, and M&A activity. Founded in 2024 and based in San Francisco, Principle is also training its own model on AWS Nova architecture and reports pilots with Fortune 500 firms, public-sector bodies, and energy-market players, positioning the product for enterprise adoption if pilots convert into paid deployments.
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MEDIA & AI ADOPTION
Survey: Ukrainian Newsrooms Used AI Cautiously in 2025, Mainly for Support Work
A survey by Ukraine’s Institute of Mass Information (IMI), based on responses from 193 journalists and editors across the country, found that most newsrooms treated AI as an auxiliary tool rather than a core part of editorial production in 2025. 56% reported moderate use (typically for individual tasks and workflow automation); 13% said they used AI actively (including content creation), while 20% used it minimally, 9% did not use it at all, and 2% planned adoption but lacked skills or tools. For media operators and AI vendors, the results point to a market shaped less by full automation and more by demand for training, internal AI policies, and risk controls to avoid reputational incidents.
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