Trump's son also invested: Israeli XTEND reaches Wall Street at a valuation of $1.5 billion

XTEND AI Robotics, founded by Israeli entrepreneurs, is expected to begin trading this coming Friday, September 4, on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker XTND, the company announced. According to the announcement, the transition comes after a reverse merger in a stock deal with the NASDAQ-listed holding company JFB Construction Holdings, at a previously announced valuation of $1.5 billion. The opening bell ringing ceremony is expected to take place on September 8 with the participation of the company's senior executives.

XTEND was founded in 2018 by brothers Aviv and Matao Shapira, founders of Replay Technologies, which was sold to Intel after developing video technology that earned them an Emmy Award, together with Rubi Liani and Adir Tubi. According to the company, it started as a gaming company based on drone technologies, but changed direction when incendiary balloons from Gaza threatened the communities and fields of the Gaza envelope, and directed its capabilities to the security world.

The company defines itself as a Physical AI company. Its core product is XOS, an operating system that connects humans, artificial intelligence, robotic platforms, payloads, and third-party applications in the air, on land, and at sea, and enables tasks to be performed in dangerous environments while maintaining human oversight. According to XTEND, more than 12,500 of its systems have been produced and deployed in more than 30 countries and five combat zones around the world.

XTEND has about 260 employees in total: about 160 in Israel, and more employees at four sites in the USA, Singapore, England, and Latvia. The announcement stated that the company has built a global production infrastructure in the USA, UK, Singapore, Israel, and Latvia, and that its recent deals include a multi-year framework agreement of up to $15 million with the defense ministry of a NATO member state, engagements with the US Department of Defense, and security orders totaling more than $12 million.

"Autonomy is not about replacing the human, but about expanding their ability to act while reducing their exposure to danger," said Aviv Shapira, co-founder and CEO of XTEND. According to him, becoming a public company is a significant milestone in a journey that began less than a decade ago in Israel, and it allows us to accelerate growth, continue to push the boundaries of technology, and bring our systems to more people, organizations, and missions around the world.

"The demand for Physical AI solutions is currently moving from the proof stage to the large-scale deployment stage, and our XOS system was built exactly for this transition," added Tal Horesh, the company's CFO. According to him, entering the public market gives us the resources to expand operations in existing markets and accelerate penetration into new markets.

Throughout its years of operation, the company has received backing from investors and strategic partners from the USA, Israel, and other countries, including Chartered Group, Protego Ventures, TAU Ventures, Surround Ventures, Secret Chord Ventures, American Ventures, Eric Trump, the son of the US President, and the American public drone company Unusual Machines.

"Protego invests in companies that are building something for which the world does not yet have a name, and XTEND was the clearest example of this from day one," said Lital Leshem, founder and managing partner at Protego Ventures. "When we first invested in them, human-guided autonomy at this level of sophistication simply did not exist anywhere else. The market has spent the last few years catching up to what this team had already built, and XTEND's operating system, XOS, is the proof of that."

"Chartered Group has accompanied XTEND as an anchor investor since the early stages of its journey," said Eyal Agmoni, Chairman of Chartered Group. "The transition to a public company is the next natural step for it, after it has proven an execution capability that meets a real need born in the most dangerous and complex places for saving human lives."

The company's announcement also included a forward-looking information clause, according to which the completion of the business merger, its timing, and the expected listing of securities under the ticker XTND depend on risks and uncertainties, including the possibility that the merger will not be completed on time or will not be completed at all, conditions for completing the deal, orders from government and defense clients, export control and defense trade regulations, and geopolitical conditions in the regions where XTEND operates.