A drone that can find a landmine is a tool. A drone that can find it autonomously, with a computer vision system that matches human perception, is a platform. Ailand Systems, a Ukrainian hardware startup founded in 2023, is betting its dual-metal-detector drone can be the latter, building a foundation in demining before expanding into adjacent fields like precision agriculture.
The hardware wedge
Ailand's initial wedge is a specific, high-stakes hardware problem: subsurface detection of unexploded ordnance. Its flagship product, the Spinner EOD (formerly the ST1), is a drone equipped with a dual metal detector search coil. The system is designed to fly low over terrain, scanning for metallic signatures buried underground. The company claims the drone achieves human-level precision and accuracy. A second variant, the Spinner TH, adds 360-degree LiDAR, cameras, and distance sensors for full situational awareness and automated obstacle avoidance.
Funding and early traction
The company has raised a total of $625,000 in disclosed funding to date.
| Round | Amount | USD |
|---|---|---|
| Angel Round (Jul 2024) | 200 | K |
| Seed Round (Feb 2025) | 425 | K |
The angel round of $200,000 was led by the co-founders of Ukrainian ride-hailing giant Uklon [Tracxn, Jul 2024]. This was followed by a $425,000 seed round led by D3 Fund, with participation from Nezlamni Fund, Google for Startups, and Unbroken [TechCrunch, Feb 2025]. The company has reported some early commercial momentum, including successful exports of its products to Japan [The Defender, Dec 2025].
The technical stack at scale
For a hardware-and-software play like Ailand, the transition from prototype to reliable field unit is the real engineering challenge. The system's performance hinges on the integration of three layers: the physical detector coils, the onboard flight and navigation computer, and the perception software that fuses sensor data into a reliable detection map.
- Sensor fusion. The Spinner TH's use of LiDAR, visual cameras, and distance sensors creates a redundancy layer for navigation.
- Autonomy overhead. True "human-level" autonomous operation in unpredictable outdoor environments requires significant compute power. The company's technical founders, CEO Dmytro Titov and CTO Heorhii Shakula, will need to optimize this balance [Crunchbase] [ZoomInfo, 2026].
- Supply chain durability. Manufacturing specialized drones in Ukraine adds a layer of logistical complexity and risk not faced by competitors in stable regions.
The path beyond demining
Ailand is not a single-mission company. Its stated focus spans demining, agriculture, and sustainability, with products like the "Bee" agricultural drone already listed in its portfolio [Sesamers, 2026]. The strategic bet is that the robust autonomous flight and perception system hardened for demining will be over-engineered for, and thus highly reliable in, agricultural applications like crop scanning or yield analysis.