Teal Drones
Teal Drones builds small tactical reconnaissance UAS — led by the Black Widow/SRR system — for U.S. Army infantry platoons under a >$260M contract.
Background
George Matus founded Teal Drones in Salt Lake City in 2014 at age 16, initially targeting high-performance consumer drones before pivoting sharply toward defense applications.
Red Cat Holdings acquired the company in an all-stock transaction in July 2021; Matus remained CEO post-acquisition.
Teal's primary military product is the Black Widow, fielded as the Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) system — each unit comprising two drones and one controller, priced at roughly $45,000 per system.
The platform is designed for autonomous, rapid-deployment tactical reconnaissance for Army infantry platoons. The civilian Teal One (Golden Eagle) targets enterprise and public-safety operators at approximately $1,299.
Teal sells predominantly through direct government channels and DoD acquisition programs.
Headcount stood at approximately 69–84 employees as of mid-2026, up roughly 17% year-over-year, reflecting ramp-up tied to the SRR contract. Technology integrations include Autonodyne, Tomahawk Robotics, Dronelink, and Skyward.