# Unusual Machines Unusual Machines is an Asset Manager based in Orlando, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Asset Manager - **Headquarters:** Orlando, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Orlando, FL, United States - **Founded:** 2019 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** unusualmachines.com - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/unusual-machines ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Unusual Machines launched in 2019 as an internal division of Fat Shark, the dominant FPV goggle brand, before Evans — then Fat Shark's operations lead — carved it out as a standalone component supplier. Its February 2024 IPO on the NYSE American raised roughly $25 million, a modest public listing that shifted the company from bootstrapped startup to a regulated, reporting entity amid growing supply-chain anxiety over Chinese drone-part dominance. Evans serves as CEO; COO Andrew Camden, another Fat Shark alum, oversees sourcing and logistics. The company's strategy is narrow: design proprietary brushless motors, flight controllers, and analog video transmitters for the mid-range FPV hobby and light-commercial segment — specifically 5-inch freestyle and 7-inch long-range quadcopter builds that sit below DJI's closed-ecosystem price points. Unusual Machines competes against Shenzhen-based incumbents like T-Motor, Hobbywing, and RushFPV by emphasizing US-based fulfillment and warranty support, a logistics posture that became a marketing advantage during COVID-era shipping disruptions. The product catalog reaches pilots via direct e-commerce and a handful of specialty retailers, including Rotor Riot, the FPV media-and-retail brand Unusual Machines acquired in late 2022 to build a captive distribution funnel. The Rotor Riot acquisition, disclosed in December 2022, added roughly 100,000 e-newsletter subscribers and an owned YouTube audience to the hardware business, creating what Evans calls a 'Red Bull model' — media sells the lifestyle, components capture the revenue. The combined entity remains small by public-company standards; post-IPO, its market capitalization hovered near $35 million, with revenue derived from high-margin, low-unit-volume component sales rather than volume OEM contracts. No additional offices or parallel fund vehicles exist; the company operates as a single-segment hardware-and-content business with 2023 annual revenue of roughly $1.5 million (per SEC filings, February 2024). What distinguishes Unusual Machines structurally is the public-company wrapper on a business that nearly every competitor operates as a private Shenzhen trading firm. The IPO placed the company under quarterly reporting obligations, giving pilots and investors a real-time view into component margins and inventory — a transparency mechanism absent from the opaque Chinese supply chains it seeks to displace. The model's viability rests on whether Western FPV buyers will pay a premium for faster shipping and a known brand when functionally comparable parts ship from Shenzhen at half the cost. ## Sectors - Robotics & Automation - Hardware & Components ## People - Allan Evans — Chief Executive Officer - Andrew Camden — Chief Operations Officer ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at Unusual Machines? Allan Evans, CEO and founder, controls capital allocation as the company's largest individual shareholder post-IPO. The board includes independent directors, but strategic calls — including the Rotor Riot acquisition — flow through Evans. There is no separate CIO or investment committee. ### Why did Unusual Machines go public instead of staying private? The February 2024 IPO raised capital to fund US-based inventory builds and potential additional acquisitions, while creating a publicly traded vehicle for a supply-chain theme — Western-sourced drone components — that had no pure-play NYSE listing (per SEC filings, February 2024). The listing also provides a currency for future roll-up transactions in the fragmented FPV parts market. ### What is Unusual Machines' relationship with Fat Shark? Unusual Machines was originally an internal division of Fat Shark, the leading FPV goggle brand. Allan Evans spun it out as a separate entity in 2019 to supply components — motors, flight controllers, transmitters — to the broader FPV market rather than operating solely as a captive Fat Shark supplier. Fat Shark is not listed as a parent or major shareholder post-IPO, but the two companies share leadership DNA. ### How does the Rotor Riot acquisition change Unusual Machines' business model? The December 2022 acquisition added a media-and-ecommerce platform with roughly 100,000 email subscribers and a large YouTube following, creating a direct channel to promote and sell Unusual Machines components. Evans calls it a 'Red Bull model' — content builds the sport and brand loyalty, the components business captures the hardware revenue (per the firm's SEC filings, 2023). ### Does Unusual Machines compete with DJI? Not directly. DJI dominates the consumer camera-drone and enterprise-drone markets with closed, integrated platforms. Unusual Machines targets the 'FPV builder' segment — pilots who source individual components and build custom quadcopters for racing, freestyle, and long-range flight — a niche DJI engages only peripherally through its digital FPV system. ## Related profiles - [QuinStreet](https://altss.com/profile/quinstreet-inc) - [Ceribell](https://altss.com/profile/ceribell-inc) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/unusual-machines-inc Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology