The verified answer
As of Sep 2026, DEPLOY verifies Performance Drone Works: 1 model, 2 deployments across 2 regions, $330.0M raised. 1 source back the record.
CategoryDrones
Appears inMilitary & defense drones
Overview
Defense technology company building multi-mission autonomous drones for military applications including surveillance, electronic warfare, and strike. Received $820M conditional loan from DoD Office of Strategic Capital.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 2 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Key facts
DoD Loan
Data & sources
Web sources
1
1 source backing this record.View all →
Models (1)
View all models →Performance Drone Works on the deployment map
View the global map2 verified deployments across 2 regions, newest verified Sep 2025. Explore where Performance Drone Works's robots are operating, by place and type.
View the full Performance Drone Works deployment record →
Relationships
Current leadership (4)
- James Slider CEOreported, not verified
- Matt Higgins Co-founder & Executive Chairmanreported, not verified
- Ryan Gury Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officerreported, not verified
- Dylan Hamm Chief Technology Officerreported, not verified
Former / Previously (2)
- Abigail Stock Chief Marketing Officerreported, not verified
- Alok Gupta Chief Financial Officerreported, not verified
Safety record
No incidents on record for Performance Drone Works.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Operator customers (1)
- Performance Drone Works2 deployments
Recent coverage
Performance Drone Works in third-party press
PDW Finalizes Acquisition of RF & Communications Engineering Firm - Unmanned Systems Technology
Trump administration in talks to fund US drone companies, WSJ reports - The Straits Times
Quantum Cyber Unveils Plans for U.S. Manufacturing Footprint as Trump Admin Looks to Fund US Drone Companies - TradingView
Peers
99 peers across 1 segment. Every Performance Drone Works competitor derived from shared form-factor and application-domain edges.
drone(99)
57 companies in this segment · moderately_concentrated (HHI 1809.2177305910177) · leader Anduril Industries at 3057%
- AEVEX Aerospacedirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Alta Aresdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- BRINC Dronesdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Darkhivedirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Dedronedirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Firestorm Labsdirect competitor(inferred)strong
Financial state
- Total funding
- $330.0M
- Reporting basis
- aggregator_estimate
- Lifecycle stage
- early
- Counterparty risk class
- unknown
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Funding rounds (3)
Performance Drone Works’s 3 disclosed rounds, $330M in total, oldest to newest.
- Series B
$110M(reported)
- Series B
$110M(reported)
- Series B
$110M(reported)
Timeline
Every recorded move in Performance Drone Works’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
New supplierNew supplier: DJI
2026-08-23Supply: Drone components for PDW platforms from DJI
New supplierNew supplier: NVIDIA
2026-08-23Supply: Compute platform for AIRR system from NVIDIA
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Record createdAug 8, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedSep 1, 2025
Attritable Multirotor Strike Drone at United States
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJan 1, 2025
Attritable Multirotor Strike Drone at United Kingdom
Sources (1)
Common questions
What is Performance Drone Works?
What does Performance Drone Works make?
Is Performance Drone Works publicly traded?
Who competes with Performance Drone Works?
Who is the CEO of Performance Drone Works?
How can I invest in Performance Drone Works?
Where is Performance Drone Works headquartered?
How much funding has Performance Drone Works raised?
Who owns Performance Drone Works?
Where does Performance Drone Works operate robots?
How many robots has Performance Drone Works deployed?
Is Performance Drone Works a top robotics company?
Is Performance Drone Works safe?
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-21
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-08-21
Sources by quality tier
- 1
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Performance Drone Works.Peer companies
- Amazon25 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
- Baykar4 models
- Earendil Robotics4 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Performance Drone Works from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
PDW Finalizes Acquisition of RF & Communications Engineering Firm - Unmanned Systems Technology
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Trump administration in talks to fund US drone companies, WSJ reports - The Straits Times
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Quantum Cyber Unveils Plans for U.S. Manufacturing Footprint as Trump Admin Looks to Fund US Drone Companies - TradingView
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PDW Attritable Multirotor Strike Drone Moves Into Production - Unmanned Systems Technology
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PDW raises over $110M for its drone-based defense systems - The Robot Report
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PDW Raises Over $110M to Expand Military Drone Production - Ventureburn
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PDW Introduces CORE 1.4 Software Update for C100 Platform - Unmanned Systems Technology
<a…
PDW Provides Training & On-Site Support to Army Transformation in Contact Units - Unmanned Systems Technology
<a…
Ondas (ONDS) stock surges on latest $35M drone manufacturing investment - Investorsobserver
<a…
PDW Secures $35M Investment from Ondas Holdings - Tectonic Defense
<a…
Ondas Announces $35 Million Strategic Investment in Performance Drone Works (“PDW”) to Expand Production of Next Generation of Combat Robotics - Ondas Holdings
<a…
Ondas Announces $35 Million Strategic Investment - citybiz
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Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/performance-drone-works.md
- RSS feed: /companies/performance-drone-works/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/05a7774f-11ac-41b2-956b-a6117ed0772e
- Revision history: /companies/performance-drone-works/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Amazon25 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- DJI7 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
- Baykar4 models
- Earendil Robotics4 models
Video
The future of warfare? 🤨 A battle between a drone and a robot dog has gone viral in China. The purpose and the location of the firework fight remain unknown. 🎥 X/nexta_tv #shorts #news #machine #drone #robot #china #
Spotlighting UXV Technologies' partners: Performance Drone Works (PDW)'s Ron Bellavia - Director of Strategic Accounts - gives his insights regarding the multi-
In this week's Comms Check we focus on Performance Drone Works (PDW) and its CEO, Ryan Gury, who has been selected for the Department of Defense's Replicator In
This is the tip of the spear. Warfare will be conducted very differently in the very near future. THIS is what you can expect from US Warfighter.
This week on Weapons and Warfare, host Ryan Robertson sits down with Ryan Gury, the CEO and co-founder of Performance Drone Works. They dive into the grand open
AIR6 SYSTEMS | AIRBORNE ROBOTICS are manufacturers of high-performance, heavy payload drones (UAVs) for payloads of up to 10 kg. We offer highest possible flexi
Host Ryan Robertson sits down with Ryan Gury, the CEO and co-founder of Performance Drone Works. They dive into the grand opening of the new, cutting-edge 90,00
This week on Weapons and Warfare, host Ryan Robertson sits down with Ryan Gury, the CEO and co-founder of Performance Drone Works. They dive into the grand open
The company plans to manufacture approximately 60,000 drones annually from this facility.
Not so long ago, humanoid robots and high-performance drones were still the stuff of science fiction. But now they have moved out of the toy shops and into the
Heat Index
Category contender75/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
Performance Drone Works draws attention at the 67th percentile but verifies reality at the 47th percentile among aerial robots. Hype Gap +19.8, 38th widest among aerial robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Clean safety record across 2 verified deployments. Deployment footprint remains limited relative to category peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Sep 23, 2026