The founder of the American private military company (PMC) Blackwater Eric Prince, has taken over as non-executive chairman of Swarmer, a Ukrainian startup specializing in software for autonomous drones, The Guardian reported.
According to the newspaper, the company has filed for an initial public offering, and Prince has been hired to “assist in sales“. “Since April 2024, the Swarmer platform has been used in Ukraine, where it has completed over 100,000 real-world missions in active combat conditions, providing insights into the software and machine learning models built into it“, the newspaper quotes Prince's letter to potential shareholders.
Drones have recently become a central focus for Prince, notes The Guardian. Prince has sent a drone control team to the Democratic Republic of Congo to help the African government in its fight against rebels.
Representatives of Prince and Swarmer declined to comment to the newspaper about the founder's involvement in the startup's activities.