Embraer announced today that it has signed an investment agreement for a minority stake in XMobots, a company located in São Carlos, in the interior of São Paulo, classified as the largest drone company in Latin America. The transaction will be carried out via an investment fund whose sole shareholder is Embraer, with the option of additional future contributions. Completion is subject to the fulfillment of conditions and obtaining the usual approvals for this type of transaction.
The deal aims to accelerate the future of the medium and large autonomous drone market, jointly explore new market niches and expand the network of collaboration in research into new technologies that have synergies with Embraer's technological development areas, business units and innovation, as well as Embraer-X.
"Our investment strategy and venture capital operations have a strong emphasis on innovation and partnerships, which are pillars of our growth plan for the coming years," said Daniel Moczydlower, Head of Innovation at Embraer and President and CEO of Embraer-X. "Initiatives like this are fundamental to leveraging ecosystems, valuing knowledge and recognizing entrepreneurs who generate businesses with the potential for exponential growth and the creation of high value for society."
With a committed and creative team, XMobots was born with the mission of developing the mobile robot market and helped make drones an everyday reality for the Precision Agriculture and Geotechnologies markets in Brazil and Latin America.
"This engagement results in innovations such as drone service provider platforms, hybrid propulsion and power technologies, artificial intelligence for image analysis, and especially aeronautical certifications," said Giovani Amianti, founder and CEO of XMobots. "With this investment we will be able to work together to develop technologies that will consolidate autonomous aerial robots and accelerate solutions for the Geotechnologies, Agro, Environmental, Inspection, Defense and Public Security, Logistics and Urban Mobility markets, which are points of convergence between XMobots and Embraer."
Upon completion of the transaction, the companies intend to work together to create memorandums of understanding related to operations in the Civilian and Defense & Security markets.
The partnership is based on Embraer's more than 50 years of history and experience in developing, certifying, manufacturing, marketing aircraft and offering after-sales services.
About Embraer
A global aerospace company headquartered in Brazil, Embraer (NYSE: ERJ) has businesses in Commercial and Executive Aviation, Defense & Security and Agricultural Aviation. The company designs, develops, manufactures and markets aircraft and systems, providing after-sales service and support to customers. Since it was founded in 1969, Embraer has delivered more than 8,000 aircraft.
On average, every 10 seconds an aircraft manufactured by Embraer takes off somewhere in the world, carrying more than 145 million passengers a year. Embraer is the leading manufacturer of commercial jets with up to 150 seats and Brazil's main exporter of high value-added goods.
The company has industrial units, offices, service centers and parts distribution, among other activities, in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. For more information, visit www.embraer.com.
About XMobots
Present on the market since 2007, XMobots is the leading drone company in Latin America, ranked as the 14th largest civilian drone company in the world by Drone Industry Insights, a global consultancy that is a reference in drone market research. XMobots specializes in the development and manufacture of high-performance VTOL drones and related technologies, such as multispectral sensors, gyro-stabilized optronic sensors, data analysis software based on Artificial Intelligence, a drone service provider platform, among others.
With around 200 employees, including more than 60 engineers in research and development, the company has a consolidated presence in the sale of drones and services for markets such as Agriculture, Geotechnologies, Defense and Security, as well as developing new projects for the Logistics and Urban Mobility sectors. XMobots' activities cover 100% of the country and countries in Latin America and Africa.
For more information, visit: www.xmobots.com.br
About Embraer-X
Embraer-X is an Embraer incubator and innovation agent that transforms ideas into innovative businesses. Based on Florida's Space Coast in Melbourne, USA, with offices in Brazil and the Netherlands, it aims to structure new high-return businesses to expand Embraer's global market and avoid disruption, combining agility and adaptability with expertise in complex solutions to leverage the multimodal and integrated mobility ecosystem.
For more information, visit: embraerx.embraer.com