PiggyGPT

Private companiesCovered

Performance Drone Works

Huntsville, AL

Performance Drone Works (PDW) builds the C100 multi-mission quadcopter and the AM attritable strike drone at its Huntsville factory, sold to the U.S. Army, Air Force, Special Operations Command and Coast Guard and to allied governments.

Profile

What it builds and who buys it

  • ·The C100 is a Group 2 quadcopter with flight times of up to 74 minutes, a range of 10 kilometres and more, and modular payloads for reconnaissance, electronic warfare and strike.Performance Drone Works (company release), Oct 8, 2025
  • ·The C100 was approved for the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue UAS list in December 2023.Performance Drone Works (company release), Dec 19, 2023
  • ·The Army selected the C100 in September 2024 for Tranche 1 of its directed requirement for company-level small UAS, the medium-range reconnaissance requirement.Performance Drone Works (company release), Sep 13, 2024
  • ·The Defense Department named the Army’s company-level small UAS effort, with Anduril’s Ghost-X and PDW’s C100, in the second Replicator tranche announced in November 2024.Performance Drone Works (reposting a Department of Defense release), Nov 18, 2024
  • ·Army orders under the Transformation in Contact initiative came to $15.3 million in December 2024, for deployment in Indo-Pacific, European and Central Commands, and $20.9 million in September 2025, the third such contract, for 18th Airborne Corps and Army Special Operations Command units.Performance Drone Works (company release), Sep 15, 2025
  • ·Special Operations Command awarded $6.9 million in February 2024 for Blackwave, PDW’s anti-jam radio.Performance Drone Works (company release), Feb 28, 2024
  • ·The Air Force’s 93rd Air Ground Operations Wing gave PDW its first Air Force contract for the C100 in October 2025.Performance Drone Works (company release), Oct 8, 2025
  • ·The Coast Guard has awarded two contracts for C100 systems, payloads and training, and tested the aircraft aboard a fast response cutter in 2026 ahead of an operational assessment.Performance Drone Works (company page), Aug 4, 2026
  • ·The company reports follow-on Army orders, a second U.S. military customer expanding its fleet, and C100 purchases by NATO allies in Europe and Indo-Pacific partners in the first half of 2026, without values.Performance Drone Works (company page), Jul 24, 2026
  • ·The AM attritable multirotor strike drone entered production in March 2026, with a five-pound payload and a 10 kilometre range that extends past 20 kilometres through a C100 relay.Performance Drone Works (company release), Mar 24, 2026
  • ·Drone Factory 01, a 90,000 square foot plant near Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, opened in August 2025 with a stated rate of 350 C100s and 5,000 AM-FPVs a month; the company now gives its capacity as 100,000 drones a year.Performance Drone Works (company release), Aug 20, 2025
  • ·In May 2025 the company was making 70 C100s a month, against 30 a month it had debated a year earlier, by its chairman’s account.Business Insider (via Yahoo News), May 3, 2025
  • ·The Office of Strategic Capital’s conditional loan commitment of up to $820 million, with private capital alongside, is for domestic production of propulsion, power and control and vision components for PDW’s aircraft and other U.S. manufacturers; the terms of the private capital were not disclosed.Inside Defense, Jul 31, 2026
  • ·The chief executive said the loan should close within three to six months of the July 2026 commitment, and that building out to supply components for one million U.S. drones a year would then take about two years.Aviation Tech Today, Aug 20, 2026
  • ·Unusual Machines took a $3.75 million order from PDW in December 2025 for components for its AM-FPV program, as a strategic supplier.Unusual Machines (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1), Dec 22, 2025
  • ·Booz Allen’s autonomy software, powered by Shield AI’s Hivemind, entered controlled testing on the AM on September 30, 2026, with general availability planned for the first quarter of 2027.Performance Drone Works (company release), Oct 9, 2026
  • ·PDW bought Vanteon, a Rochester, New York firm in RF systems and software-defined radios with about 40 engineers, in June 2026.Performance Drone Works (company release), Jun 4, 2026
  • ·Engineering sites opened in Denver in June 2026 and in Boston in October 2026, beside the Huntsville factory.Performance Drone Works (company release), Sep 2, 2026

Founders and leadership

  • Ryan GuryCo-founder and chief innovation officer

    Co-founded the Drone Racing League in 2015 and designed its racing drones, one of which set a Guinness speed record in 2017; PDW’s chief executive when interviewed in September 2025.Inside Unmanned Systems, Sep 25, 2025

  • Matt HigginsCo-founder and executive chairman

    Earlier oversaw the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site as chief operating officer of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.Performance Drone Works (company page), Apr 17, 2024

  • Trevor SmithCo-founder

    Named by Washington Technology as a co-founder beside Gury and Higgins; the company quoted him as chief strategy officer in February 2024. He is not on the current leadership page.Washington Technology, Feb 3, 2026

  • James SliderChief executive

    Chief operating officer for three years before succeeding Gury as chief executive in early 2026.Washington Technology, Feb 3, 2026

Prospects, after the October 2026 Form D

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 11, 2026

  • ·The orders on file are small: $15.3 million and $20.9 million from the Army, $6.9 million from Special Operations Command, and Air Force and Coast Guard contracts and allied purchases without values. No revenue figure is on file, and each Form D declines to disclose revenue.Performance Drone Works (company page), Jul 24, 2026
  • ·Stated capacity runs well ahead of the output on record: 100,000 drones a year at Drone Factory 01, against 70 C100s a month in May 2025. Orders on the scale of that capacity are not on file.Business Insider (via Yahoo News), May 3, 2025
  • ·Capital has followed: a Series B reported at $1.2 billion, with Form D sales of $162.4 million, and a further $52.2 million from two investors in September 2026. The $820 million loan is conditional, and the build-out it funds is for components sold to other drone makers as well as PDW.Aviation Tech Today, Aug 20, 2026
  • ·Leadership turned over in 2026: a new chief executive in February, two independent directors chairing new audit and compensation committees in May, and a new chief revenue officer in September.Performance Drone Works (company release), May 14, 2026
  • ·The Army’s company-level small UAS effort chose Anduril’s Ghost-X beside the C100, so the program that carries PDW’s largest orders has a second supplier.Performance Drone Works (reposting a Department of Defense release), Nov 18, 2024
  • ·For the acquisition read, the ties on file are equity stakes: Ondas, a listed drone and autonomy company, led the Series B and holds a board-observer right, and Booz Allen invested and supplies the autonomy software on the AM. No talks or approach are reported, and PDW is itself an acquirer (Vanteon). The posture is watch.

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Funding

Last valuation

$1.2B

Post-money, Series B, reportedCrunchbase News, Apr 21, 2026

Last round or tender

Form D offering

Sep 21, 2026SEC EDGAR (Form D), Oct 6, 2026

No announcement from the company. The filing records $52,200,194 of equity sold to 2 investors from September 21, 2026, and does not name the round or say whether the capital was primary.

Latest revenue figure

—

Valuation to revenue

—

Post-money valuation by round

Fewer than two dated figures on file to plot; the table carries what there is.

DateRoundRaisedPost-money
Sep 21, 2026Form D offeringNo announcement from the company. The filing records $52,200,194 of equity sold to 2 investors from September 21, 2026, and does not name the round or say whether the capital was primary.——
Mar 25, 2026Series BAnnounced on March 25, 2026 as over $110 million, led by Ondas with Hood River, Cedar Pine, Hanwha Asset Management’s venture fund and Booz Allen Hamilton. The Form D for the offering, begun November 19, 2025, recorded $99.1 million sold to 28 investors when filed; its April 1, 2026 amendment records $162,371,096 sold to 32 investors, the amount recorded here. Ondas bought $35 million of Series B-3 preferred stock on November 20, 2025. Crunchbase News reported the $1.2 billion valuation; TechCrunch’s January 2026 unicorn list, citing PitchBook, gave the same figure after the Ondas investment, under the name PDWQ.$162M$1.20Breported
Mar 10, 2025Form D offeringNo announcement from the company. The filing records $16,385,901 sold to 7 investors of a $30 million offering from March 10, 2025, as options, warrants or other rights to acquire another security, and does not name the round.——
Dec 22, 2023Form D offeringNo announcement from the company. The filing records $8,572,152 of equity sold to 6 investors of a $10 million offering from December 22, 2023, and does not name the round or say whether the capital was primary.——

Primary capital across the rounds on file: $162M

Revenue

No citable revenue figure on file.

Secondary venues

  • Clarity (formerly Hiive)public page seen Oct 11, 2026

    Clarity Price $17.79, as of Oct 11, 2026

    Clarity calls the figure a model-derived indicative estimate calculated daily; the page dates it no further than a "last updated" line reading August 28, 2026.

  • Nasdaq Private Marketpublic page seen Oct 11, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    Listed as PDW. The page shows no figure in its text or its title.

  • Caplightpublic page seen Oct 11, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    No public MarketPrice for Performance Drone Works; the page shows only Caplight’s last-round figures.

A venue is listed when its public page named the company on the date shown. A price is the figure that page showed, under the venue’s own name for it and dated as the venue dated it; it is a level the venue publishes, not a trade. Nothing is recorded from behind a login.

Reads

Acquisition: Watch

A cited tie to a plausible buyer: a strategic partner, an investor stake, a tender offer, a stated appetite. Nothing reported.

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 11, 2026

Signals

  • Nov 20, 2025Ondas, a Nasdaq-listed drone and autonomy company, bought $35 million of PDW Series B-3 preferred stock, about 3 percent of the company by its annual report, with information rights and the right to appoint a non-voting observer to PDW’s board.Ondas Holdings (Form 10-K), Mar 30, 2026
  • Mar 25, 2026PDW closed its Series B, announced as over $110 million, led by Ondas with Booz Allen Hamilton and Hanwha Asset Management’s venture fund among the investors.Performance Drone Works (company release), Mar 25, 2026
  • May 1, 2026Booz Allen described its investment in PDW as a strategic alignment of its autonomy work with PDW’s domestically produced drones.Huntsville Business Journal, May 1, 2026
  • Jun 19, 2026PDW completed its acquisition of Vanteon, a Rochester, New York communications engineering firm of about 40 engineers, agreed on June 4.Performance Drone Works (company release), Jun 19, 2026
  • Jul 31, 2026The Office of Strategic Capital made a conditional loan commitment of up to $820 million to PDW Holdings for drone component manufacturing; financial close depends on financial, legal, technical and due-diligence requirements.Performance Drone Works (company release), Jul 31, 2026
  • Oct 6, 2026A Form D records $52.2 million of equity sold to two investors from September 21, 2026, with no announcement from the company.SEC EDGAR (Form D), Oct 6, 2026
  • Oct 9, 2026PDW began integrating Booz Allen’s mission autonomy software and over-the-air fleet updates on its AM drones, with plans to extend the software to the C100 in 2027.Performance Drone Works (company release), Oct 9, 2026

Named counterparties

  • OndasLed the Series B and holds Series B-3 preferred stock with information rights and a board-observer right. No interest in a deal has been reported.Ondas Holdings (Form 10-K), Mar 30, 2026
  • Booz Allen HamiltonAn investor since the Series B whose mission autonomy software and fleet-update product PDW is integrating across its aircraft.Performance Drone Works (company release), Oct 9, 2026

Counterparties are named for a cited reason: a partnership, an investment, or a stated appetite. Naming is not a forecast.

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Sources

Researched Oct 11, 2026