Drone Nerds

Drone Nerds

Drone Nerds is a drone distributor and service business based in Aventura, Florida, near Miami. It sells and configures third-party hardware — it is an authorised dealer for DJI Enterprise, Autel Robotics, Parrot, Freefly, Sentera and others — and wraps that with Part 107 training, repair, and managed fleet programmes for commercial, public safety and government customers. It does not design or build aircraft. Jeremy Schneiderman, who co-founded the company and has led it since 2014, is still its CEO.

Ownership

XTI Aerospace acquired Drone Nerds and Anzu Robotics in November 2025 for approximately $40 million, closing a concurrent $25 million strategic investment from Unusual Machines. XTI trades on Nasdaq as XTIA; Drone Nerds now operates as its commercial drone division and is one of XTI’s two reporting segments, alongside XTI Aircraft.

Financial Position

Drone Nerds was profitable and private before the sale. XTI stated it had more than $110 million of revenue in 2024 and over $55 million in the first half of 2025, with a ten-year record of profitability.

Since the acquisition the picture is XTI’s. Consolidated 2025 revenue was $22.5 million, reflecting only seven weeks of Drone Nerds ownership, against a net loss of $68.5 million. Unaudited pro forma 2025 revenue for the combined business was $121.6 million with a pro forma net loss from continuing operations of $39.0 million. First-quarter 2026 revenue was $27.7 million with a net loss of $35.3 million. Alongside those first-quarter results in May 2026, XTI guided to full-year 2026 revenue of $160 million or more, breakeven cash flow in the third quarter, and second-half consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $2–3 million or better. Those are targets, not results.

The parent is now in trouble that reaches the division. Chairman and CEO Scott Pomeroy resigned on 17 August 2026 amid an internal review by independent directors into governance matters relating to him. Schneiderman was appointed interim CEO of XTI Aerospace while continuing to run Drone Nerds. XTI received a Nasdaq notice on 26 August 2026 that it was out of compliance with the exchange’s filing rule, and filed its late second-quarter 2026 Form 10-Q on 20 October. The filing says substantial doubt exists about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Why It Matters

Drone Nerds is where XTI’s revenue actually comes from — the acquisition turned a pre-revenue eVTOL developer into a company with sales, customers and distribution. That dependence now runs both ways. A distribution business built on reselling other manufacturers’ hardware, much of it DJI’s, carries thin margins and direct exposure to US restrictions on Chinese drones, and it is now sitting inside a Nasdaq-listed parent that is late on its filings, under internal investigation, and warning about going concern. The operating business looks sound; the holding structure around it does not.