A golf club company backed by Donald Trump’s children is merging with drone maker Powerus in a deal designed to take the drone technology company public.
The merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings is the latest in Eric and Donald Trump Jr’s growing investments in the drone sector, following last month’s $1.5 billion alliance between Israeli drone maker XTEND and Florida-based JFB Construction Holdings. Drones have become a major procurement priority for the Pentagon and are widely used in Ukraine, where dense air defense systems near the front lines limit the deployment of conventional aircraft.
This growing reliance has also attracted significant funding from Silicon Valley to drone and military AI startups, boosting the valuations of US companies such as Anduril Industries and Shield AI.
Powerus, founded in 2025 by Andrew Fox, makes heavy-lift drones that can carry industrial loads of up to 675kg. The company also offers services to transform existing manned vessels into remotely operated or fully autonomous vessels.
Fox is expected to serve as CEO and president of the combined company, Aureus said in an SEC filing.
In connection with the planned merger, Aureus has hired Dominari Securities to help raise around $9 million in financing.
Dominari counts the two Trump brothers among its shareholders, with approximately 6% stake each.
Either company could end the merger if it does not close by the end of 2026, Aureus said.
This is the latest of the Trump family’s business moves, carried out even while Trump runs the White House. Ethics experts have raised multiple concerns about the intensification of the family’s businesses during Trump’s second term, moving beyond hotels and golf courses and into other industries, including cryptocurrencies, energy and financial services.
Typically, American presidents put their financial interests in a blind trust managed by an independent third party. Trump chose to give his adult children control of his businesses while he carries out his second term, which ethics experts say is not enough protection against potential conflicts of interest.
Late last year, Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Trump’s Truth Social platform, announced a $6 billion merger with a fusion energy technology company and agreed to give the company $300 million in cash to continue developing the nascent technology.
In February, a Wall Street Journal report revealed that a member of the Emirati royal family invested $500 million in the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company. Shortly after, Trump announced that the United Arab Emirates would lift export controls and give the country access to 500,000 of Nvidia’s powerful artificial intelligence chips.
