Andriy was invited to speak at the London Family Office Conference, hosted by DC Finance's Global Family Office & High Net Worth Community. He joined a panel, featuring Jordan Cassel, Roshan Greensall and Jenny Yu, and chaired by Ne Lwin MBA. ‘Succession in Action’ dove deep into the stories and critical lessons emerging from the next generation of leaders shaping the future of family wealth and business. The event was organised by Denny Chared and the team at DC Finance.

Andriy Dovbenko attended the Founders Forum Group’s second annual VC Forum, which gathered Europe’s top Venture Capital partners just weeks ahead of the UK budget. The agenda covered deal sourcing, due diligence, portfolio management, and industry trends - the most prominent being AI. Alexandra Depledge, MBE offered insight into the real-world impacts of AI, the importance of Tech Sovereignty, and what the Treasury’s direction could mean for capital deployment ahead of the Autumn Budget. Another highlight was a conversation with Nick Clegg, moderated by Verity Harding, which delved into geopolitics, European strategy, and the long-term implications of tech autonomy 🔍 The forum underscored that investors must bring more than capital to the table: They provide the strategic direction, sector expertise, and networks that empower founders to scale. This philosophy is at the heart of UK-Ukraine TechExchange, helping ensure that promising technologies progress from innovation to real-world deployment and impact.

Andriy Dovbenko attended DWC Technology’s Resilience Seminar held in partnership with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates. The event examined mobilising the UK’s financial services to advance national interests, with discussions offering a sharp reflection on the realities shaping our national resilience and innovation landscape. Resilience today spans far beyond traditional defence, encompassing industries such as space and cyber. Each domain brings both risks and opportunities, and collaboration between Government, industry, and innovators is more critical than ever. The UK is rich in talent and capital, but challenges remain in turning that strength into sustainable growth. There is no shortage in ambition and talent; what is needed now is the mechanisms to scale.

Andriy Dovbenko:attended the Founders Forum Group VC drinks night. The highlight of the night was the opening remarks and fireside chat featuring Sir Richard Moore, Former Chief of MI6, and Kyle Brown from Trinity Capital, and Carolyn Dawson of Tech Nation and Founders Forum Group. The discussion on geopolitical risk and capital allocation provided a unique perspective and a crucial reminder of how macro forces must shape our investment theses today.

Andriy Dovbenko was invited to attend London Defence Conference Investment Forum in November 2025, focused on the theme: ‘Getting to 5%: Strengthening European Defence Investment.’ The day opened with a welcome from Iain Martin and a keynote from George Robertson, former Secretary General NATO, setting the stage for the strategic challenges ahead.

Some key messages Andriy addressed in his reflections post-event:

📌The importance of creating a ‘green corridor’ for IP transfer, allowing Ukrainian systems to be industrialised in the UK. While foreign firms are currently able to benefit from Ukraine’s battlefield insights and combat data, Ukrainian firms remain trapped inside a constrained domestic market, unable to raise capital and scale through NATO markets.

📌The absence of a formal B2B IP transfer mechanism is a major obstacle preventing UK investors from engaging in Ukrainian technology and integrating it into its own SDR priorities 🇺🇦🇬🇧

📌The UK MoD must acknowledge the importance of Ukrainian technologies as a strategic asset for British defence. To date, procurement has flowed primarily as aid, not as direct purchases for the UK Army.

📌Procurement pathways - similar to AUKUS Pillar II for rapid tech adoption - would anchor UK-Ukraine industrial integration. Without this, the UK risks losing access to the world's fastest-evolving defence ecosystem and pushing Ukrainian innovators toward existing demand signals in the US/EU ecosystems.

TechExchange was able to facilitate invitations to London Defence Conference for its cohort members, Vadym Burukin (Huless) and Oleksandr Khomiak (Drone Space Labs).

On 12 December 2024, UK-Ukraine TechExchange hosted its DefenceTech Investor Trends 2025 business breakfast at Digital Catapult.

Hosted by UK-Ukraine TechExchange, the event featured a great panel of sector experts: Karl Eze, CEO and Co-Founder of Point Zenith; William McManners, Founder and Managing Partner of MD One Ventures; and Steven Wood, Head of Industry Practice, Aerospace, Defence and Security at Digital Catapult, and was moderated by Christopher Lowe from NOTWICS.

Vadym Burukin of Huless, a TeUAS company in TechExchange cohort, joined along with other founders, VCs and journalists.

The discussion focused on how DefenceTech has developed this year and predictions of what’s in store for next year.

The panel discussion focused on the following:

- Why increasing defence budgets is important, but the speed at which this funding is allocated plays a significant role in the pace of innovation.

- Macro and micro-level threats of the future and the challenge Europe must face to defend itself.

- The mindset shift in DefenceTech investment since the war in Ukraine. No longer a “taboo” sector, more investors are providing startups with the necessary capital to create crucial dual-use technologies.

Andriy Dovbenko was invited to speak at Opal Group’s Global Alternative Investing Summit delving into one of the most challenging topics facing the industry today. Family offices now hold the data scale of Fortune 500s, but often don’t have their same defences. Andriy's panel panel explored how rapidly evolving technologies are reshaping the landscape for family offices, covering key topics such as:

➡️Why family offices face new pressures and unique vulnerabilities in an AI-driven world

➡️What ‘private by design’ really means for #FamilyOffices in 2025

➡️The importance of AI empowering, rather than replacing, human expertise

The panel was moderated by Ne Lwin MBA (SFO Alliance) and panellists, Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk (Memmosyne Institute), Ayesha Kotecha (Randal Charitable Foundation), and Hasan Veli Kundi (Unbound)

UK-Ukraine TechExchange hosted a private dinner at The Rag - Army & Navy Club for defence investors, founders, policymakers, and primes. The event provided a forum to discuss future commercial opportunities for DefenceTech innovation in Ukraine beyond the end of the war. With a keynote from Steve Baxter, Founder and Lead Investor at Beaten Zone Venture Partners, the event highlighted the urgency of strengthening ties between Ukrainian innovation and the country’s allies to ensure its potential to reshape the European defence ecosystem is not lost. By combining cross-government defence collaboration and opening avenues for procurement and private investment, we have a prime opportunity to learn from Ukraine and bolster the defence capabilities in NATO-allied nations. In today’s rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape, these improvements simply cannot wait.