Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have backed Powerus, a drone manufacturing startup pursuing a reverse merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings — a Florida-based golf course operator — to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange, according to WSJ reports.
The transaction would take Powerus public without the cost and scrutiny of a traditional IPO. Aureus Greenway Holdings currently trades on Nasdaq and owns golf courses in Florida. Once the merger closes, the drone company would inherit the public listing.
The deal draws in several entities connected to the Trump family. American Ventures, the family's investment firm, holds a stake in Powerus. So does Unusual Machines, a drone component manufacturer with its own ties to the Trump orbit. The investment bank Dominari Securities, which the Trump brothers have supported, is also involved in structuring the transaction.
External capital is coming from South Korea: the Korea Corporate Governance Improvement Fund has committed $50 million to the project.
Powerus says that going public will provide access to capital markets it needs to scale production and pursue acquisitions. In the past six months alone, the startup has acquired three small companies. Its stated target is to manufacture more than 10,000 drones per month.
The most striking element of Powerus's expansion strategy involves Ukraine. The company is currently in negotiations to either acquire Ukrainian drone manufacturers outright or license their technology for domestic production in the United States — a move that would bring battlefield-tested designs into American commercial and defense supply chains.
