I expect the drones will be in the nearby future something very usual to our daily environment. Therefore I am wondering what is the best way to be invested into drones?

Are there any trusts/funds to invest into? Is there any company which focuses on drones and has shares to sell/buy? How to invest into startups of drones solutions?

hope someone can help.


The closest ETF is probably the Robo-Stox Global Robotics and Automatioex ETF (ROBO). It's not a pure drone play, but according to Investopedia:

One of the biggest winners in the robotics sector has been drones for both military and personal use. While personal drones maybe subject to regulation, military drones have already found their way into surveillance and now actual combat situations. More than $7.51 billion will spent last year on these devices. That trend will benefit Elbit Systems Ltd. (ESLT) and Aerovironment Inc. (AVAV) — two of the biggest drone manufacturers.

As far as investing in specific companies, the two mentioned in the above article are a good start, but you can find more by looking through a "best drones" article (e.g. Gizmodo's The Best Drone for Every Beginner or DroneFlyers' 10 best quadcopters and drones for 2016) and researching the companies found there.


Drones (specifically referring to small multi-rotors here) are becoming so useful because of the new automatic navigation powers they derive from rapidly evolving power chips and control systems. RC Copters have been around forever, but it is the integration of this new hardware and corresponding software that makes drones such an interesting investment.

So instead of looking at one specific drone company to invest in, why not take a look at the suppliers of the technology that all drone companies will need?

Here's a few of these type of companies listed by NASDAQ:

"IXYS Corp. (Nasdaq: IXYS Supplies power chip sets & controllers used in drones - $383 Million

InvenSense, Inc. (NYSE: INVN) Supplies motion tracking components used in smartphones and drones - $1.46 Billion

Ambarella, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMBA) Supplies chips used for HD video capture and delivery for cameras - $1.54 Billion"

But like with any investment, just because you see the trend coming, it's the right pony that gets to the water first that will reap the rewards.

  • 5
    Absolutely. The folks who got rich in the California gold rush mostly were the ones who sold the supplies the prospectors were buying, not the prospectors themselves. Any one prospector is more likely to fail than to succeed. Selling shovels isn't sexy, but it makes a profit no matter whose mine succeeds... and even if none of them do. Personally i'd go after base tech rather than betting on drones, never mind specific drones. – keshlam Jun 27 '15 at 2:10

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