Shares of Swarmer are red hot since the Ukrainian defense-technology company listed on the Nasdaq earlier this week.

The stock $(SWMR)$ surged 520% from its $5 initial-public-offering price on Tuesday, and rose another 77% on Wednesday. That makes for a nearly 1,100% two-day increase since the IPO.

The company makes software that allows groups of drones to coordinate their actions, which has been put to work by Ukraine in the country's conflict with Russia since 2023, according to the company.

Low-cost autonomous drones and other military technologies are in high demand due to geopolitical conflicts, namely in Ukraine and the Middle East. On Friday, the Pentagon awarded privately held Anduril a $20 billion contract in part to counter unmanned aerial systems - drones, that is.

AeroVironment $(AVAV)$ this week said it had acquired Empirical Systems Aerospace for about $200 million to bolster its drone-making capabilities. Another defense firm, Karman $(KRMN)$, plans to open a new facility to make more components for counterdrone programs and missiles.

Ondas $(ONDS)$ on Wednesday launched a new joint venture with Heidelberger Druckmaschinen (XE:HDD) to deliver autonomous drone defense and security systems across Germany and Ukraine. Earlier this week, the firm completed its acquisition of a British drone maker.

"Europe is facing an urgent need to protect critical infrastructure, military installations and civil assets from evolving drone threats," Ondas CEO Eric Brock said in a statement.

Ondas's stock has surged 49% over the last three months and 1,354% over the last 12 months, while Karman shares are up 60% over the past three months and 179% over the last year. AeroVironment's stock is up 72% over the last 12 months, despite paring some gains after a major contract was reopened.

Compared with those companies, Swarmer is relatively small.

The Ukrainian firm reported revenue of just $309,920 in 2025, down 6% from a year earlier. Its net loss of $8.5 million was worse than the almost $2.1 million loss it took in 2024, according to a filing. Last September, Swarmer raised $15 million from investors in what it said was the largest investment in a Ukrainian defense tech firm since the Russia-Ukraine war began four years ago.

Swarmer said that "substantially all" of its revenue over the last two years was from a single company in Ukraine: Smart Machinery Solutions. It has a firm backlog of $16.3 million over the next 12 to 24 months, although Swarmer said it anticipates another $16.8 million could be added to that total.

As for the company's competitors, Ondas expects to report revenue of as much as $50.7 million for 2025. Karman is expected to report full-year 2025 sales of $469 million next week, according to estimates compiled by FactSet.

Swarmer said it has completed 86,000 combat missions, or more than 300 missions daily, since its drones were first used in Ukraine. On its website, Swarmer cited a testimonial from Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian defense minister, who praised its capabilities.

Drones have been a major tool used by both Russia and Ukraine over the past few years, with Ukraine losing as many as 10,000 drones per month by mid-2023, according to the Royal United Services Institute think tank. They've also become responsible for up to 80% of casualties in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to a report from GlobalData-owned news site Army Technology.

"The company's technology has not only survived combat conditions in Ukraine; it has improved because of them," Erik Prince, Swarmer's nonexecutive chairman and founder of the private military company Blackwater, said in a letter to prospective shareholders.

"This distinction matters deeply in an industry where many solutions are conceived for yesterday's threats or optimized for controlled environments," Prince added.