Startup · United States
Performance Drone Works
HQ HuntsvilleFounded 2019201-500 employees
Unmanned aircraft and domestic drone-component manufacturing for defense.
- AcquisitionsVanteon Corporation
- Oct 9, 2026CompanyPerformance Drone WorksPDW integrates Booz Allen autonomy and secure fleet updates on AM drones
- Sep 2, 2026CompanyPerformance Drone Works / PR NewswirePDW expands engineering operations in Denver and Boston
- Jul 31, 2026CompanyPerformance Drone Works / PR NewswirePDW receives conditional loan commitment of up to $820 million
Funding4 rounds · ~$170M
- Equity raised
- ~$170M
- Latest
- ~$110MSeries B · Mar 25, 2026
- Last valuation
- $132MPost-money · Series A · 2025
| Announced | Stage | Amount | Valuation | Lead investors | Other investors | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 25, 2026 | Series B | ~$110M | — | Ondas | Booz Allen Hamilton | Confirmed |
| Nov 20, 2025 | Strategic | $35.0M | — | Ondas | — | Reported |
| 2024 | Seed | $8.6M | — | — | — | Reported |
| 2025 | Series A | $16.4M | $132M | Squadra Ventures | — | Reported |
- ~$110MMar 25, 2026
- StrategicLed by Ondas$35.0MNov 20, 2025
- Seed$8.6M2024
- $16.4M2025
Raised counts equity rounds; debt, secondary sales and grants are totaled separately. Amounts in other currencies are converted at the announcement month's average rate. A ~ marks an estimated or converted amount.
Systems5
C100
Multi-mission quadcopter.
- Contract award
- Sep 11, 2024
Photo: U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Anthony Hewitt · Public domain (PD-USGov-Military-Army)
Mechanical Release Device (MRD)
Payload interface for carrying and releasing equipment from the PDW C100 aircraft.
Newest unveiled first. Open a system for its milestone timeline, components and sources.
People4
- Matt Higgins
Founder
- Patrick Laney
Founder
- Ryan Gury
Founder
- Trevor Smith
Founder
Sources12
Show all 12 sources and supporting evidence
Profile3
- 1
PitchBook · Supports Organization · employee range, Organization · linkedin url, Organization · x url
“employee_range: 201-500 (profile: 338)”
- 2
Performance Drone Works · Supports Organization · name
“Performance Drone Works | Defense Drones & Aerial Robotics”
- 3
PitchBook · Supports Organization · founded year
“Performance Drone Works was founded in 2019.”
Systems4
- 4
Performance Drone Works · Supports Organization, System
“expand domestic manufacturing of the critical technologies behind the next generation of drones”
- 5CompanyIndustries Defense
Performance Drone Works · Supports System
“AM Defense Attritable multirotor built on a radically modular chassis for rapid reconfiguration and mass manufacture. [Learn More”
- 6
Performance Drone Works · Supports System
“PDW’s Mechanical Release Device (MRD) makes that possible.  MRD can serve as interface between the C100 and payloads up to 8.3 lbs Rather than creating a dedicated solution for every use case, MRD provides a simple mechanical interface that allows operators to carry, deploy, or release mission-specific payloads they develop themselves. Units can rapidly experiment, iterate, and expand what C100 can do without a custom software integration or modifying the aircraft.”
- 7CompanyTraining
Performance Drone Works · Supports System
“PDW SIM Hands-on training with PDW’s software ecosystem. Plan missions, manage payloads, and integrate data streams in PDWCORE and rehearse in PDWSIM, a hyper-realistic simulator for the C100 capabilites”
Funding4
- 8
PR Newswire · Mar 25, 2026 · Supports Funding round, Funding round · amount, Organization · ownership
“PDW's latest financing was led by Ondas”
- 9Regulatory filingONDS reports $35M strategic stake in defense-robotics firm PDW
Stock Titan (Ondas 8-K) · Supports Funding round
“The investment was completed on November 19, 2025, and was announced via press release on November 20, 2025.”
- 10
Tectonic · Supports Funding round · amount, Funding round · post money valuation usd
“raised an $8.6M seed round in 2024, according to PitchBook data.”
- 11
Tectonic · Supports Funding round · amount
“secured a $35M strategic investment from Ondas Autonomous Systems (OAS)”
People1
- 12
Crunchbase via Bright Data · Supports Organization · headquarters, Role · founders
“{"country_code": "United States", "location": [{"name": "Huntsville", "permalink": "huntsville-alabama"}, {"name": "Alabama", "permalink": "alabama-united-states"}, {"name": "United States", "permalink": "united-states"}, {"name": "North America", "permalink": "north-america"}]}”
Each fact on this page is attached to the sources that support it. Archived copies are linked when we keep one.