From Trump Shoutout To $300-Million Drone Business: The Rise Of Powerus

Powerus, a young drone company backed by two of the US president's sons and praised by the president himself, has grown from $5.7 million in assets to a $300 million business within months, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In July 2025, drone salesman Brett Velicovich went on Fox News, a US cable channel, to welcome the Trump administration's plan to invest more than a billion dollars in the country's military drone industry. Within minutes, the president had noticed.

Velicovich "really knows his 'stuff,' " President Trump said on social media. "We are really on our way. MAGA!"

Fifteen months later, Velicovich is a senior executive at Powerus. Two of the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, have helped to fund the company, the Journal reported.

Powerus began with $5.7 million in assets. Within months, it was a $300 million business, the Journal said. It has won contracts worth millions of dollars in the US and overseas.

Velicovich says the founders' skills explain the speed. "I have never seen another drone company that in their first year in business has been able to do what we've done," he said in an interview cited by the Journal. "You will see us exceed them all."

Powerus is run by an unusual mix of people. They include an operator of a publicly listed golf-course business in Florida, a sushi restaurateur, a Democratic donor who runs a cleaning business in New York, and a former child-modelling talent scout who has settled claims of defrauding parents. Velicovich earlier served in a US Army intelligence unit.

The founders say the company began in Ukraine. Early in Russia's 2022 invasion, Velicovich went to Lviv, in the west of the country, and handed out first-aid kits to soldiers. Sushi restaurateur Michael Sinensky and businessman Roman Vintfeld were there too, through a charity.

Velicovich then stayed in Kyiv for two years, brokering drone deals to arm Ukraine. Most of Powerus's revenue so far has come from selling a low-cost interceptor drone design that it imported from Ukraine.

Powerus reached the stock market through a struggling Florida golf-course company. In July 2025, American Ventures, a fund backed by the Trump sons, led a $26 million investment in the golf company. Its share price rose from a very low level to a high of $8.

In December, two months after Powerus was set up, a merger with the golf company was proposed. At that point, Powerus had no revenue or products, the Journal said. It then quickly bought three drone businesses, including a small autonomous boat startup that Velicovich had founded separately.

READ | "It's Going To Get Wrapped Up Soon": Trump On US' War With Iran

In October, Powerus became a public company. Velicovich and his partners, with their families beside them, rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US.

In July, Powerus landed a Defence Department contract worth up to $90 million for drone interceptors and related technology. By August, the Air Force had ordered almost all of it, around $83 million.

Federal contracting records show Powerus was one of 10 companies that bid. Andrew Fox, the Powerus chief executive, said the contract "might have happened fast" but was won in "the proper way."

A month later, Powerus said it had beaten defence-technology giant Anduril Industries for a $22 million job defending American oil infrastructure in the Middle East.

READ | Bloomberg, 2 Others Ready To Pay $10,000 To Access Trump's Truth Social Posts

In September, Velicovich met Pakistan's army chief as part of a deal to sell drones to Pakistan's forces, the Journal reported. Powerus already had a deal with India, and heads of state elsewhere, including Lithuania and Iraq, have sought it out.

The company is now asking contractors for help to scale up its manufacturing. Velicovich has publicly promised it can build drones in 90 seconds. According to people familiar with the matter, Powerus has in some cases asked contractors to sign nondisparagement agreements, which limit what they can say about the company.

In a year, Powerus has gone from a handful of assets to a listed company with military contracts. Its founders credit their own skills. The Journal's account also shows the other forces behind the rise: a public mention from the president, a fund backed by his sons, and a ready route to the stock market through a golf company.