Xtend AI Robotics

Xtend AI Robotics

Xtend AI Robotics builds a software and hardware ecosystem that lowers the barrier to advanced drone operations. The company, co-founded by Aviv Shapira and his brother Matteo, emerged from Israel's defense-tech ecosystem to commercialize a simple premise: a human operator, wearing an XR headset and using an intuitive controller, can command a fleet of semi-autonomous drones to clear a building, inspect a bridge, or neutralize an explosive device. The core intellectual property resides in the AI that translates high-level human intent into low-level machine actuation, managing collision avoidance and real-time stabilization without requiring the operator to think about rotor angles or throttle curves. Deployment cuts across defense, homeland security, and civil infrastructure. The firm's `Wolverine` platform, a lightweight indoor tactical drone, has been fielded by the Israel Defense Forces and, through Xtend's US subsidiary Xtend Reality, is offered to American special-operations units under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. A second product line, the `Griffon` heavy-lift drone, targets logistics and industrial inspection for energy and mining operators. Xtend structures its engagements as direct government contracts, hardware sales, and drone-as-a-service subscription tiers for commercial clients. The company participates in co-development partnerships with defense primes, including a publicly confirmed collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to integrate Xtend's operating system onto IAI's loitering munitions. Optics matter to scale. By May 2023 Xtend had attracted $50 million in total funding, anchored by a $20 million Series A round led by Chartered Group, with participation from WHAT IF Ventures, TAU Ventures, and strategic angels from the Israeli tech-defense establishment. The firm maintains R&D operations in Tel Aviv and a commercial delivery hub in the United States. Adjacent vehicles include a nonprofit training initiative that puts Xtend's technology into search-and-rescue education programs for first responders, blurring the line between commercial deployment and public-good mission. In May 2023 Xtend announced a partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defense to explore counter-UAS applications of its autonomous swarm logic. What structurally separates Xtend from commodity drone manufacturers is its operator-interface thesis. The company does not sell a drone; it sells a skill-transfer protocol that makes any able-bodied recruit drone-competent in under two hours. That architecture — a thin human-intent layer riding on a thick autonomous-execution stack — mirrors the way high-frequency trading firms abstracted market complexity from the trader. It makes Xtend a software company priced like a defense contractor, a hybrid posture that attracts technology VCs and sovereign procurement offices simultaneously.