Paris-based Rift, a deeptech company focused on on-demand aerial intelligence, has raised €4.6 million to advance its technology and roll out the first on-demand aerial intelligence network, operated from a single remote command centre in France. The round was led by AlleyCorp, with participation from OVNI Capital.
A pioneer in autonomous drone-based observation, Rift is building an aerial intelligence infrastructure designed to protect national territories, critical infrastructure, and civilian populations.
Growing geopolitical and climate risks are increasing pressure on critical infrastructure and borders, driving demand for long-range aerial surveillance. Current solutions are expensive and inefficient: a helicopter flight hour can exceed €3,000 and requires continuous human presence, which limits missions and creates blind spots that weaken security and heighten exposure to threats.
Rift offers an alternative that enables continuous monitoring of sensitive areas and critical infrastructure at significantly lower cost. Its “Surveillance-as-a-Service” model turns a traditionally capital-intensive market into a flexible, zero-CAPEX service, where clients such as ministries, infrastructure operators, and industrial groups gain instant access to aerial surveillance capabilities while maintaining full sovereignty over collected data.
Rift’s platform is designed for operational use cases such as early wildfire detection, monitoring highway incidents, tracking illegal border crossings, and overseeing pipelines, power lines, and railways for leaks or intrusions, giving authorities and operators earlier aerial visibility and faster coordination across large territories.
Rift’s Co-founder and CEO, Daniel Nef, said that the company is developing the crucial layer between ground teams and satellites: a remotely operated network able to rapidly cover critical areas and deliver real-time situational awareness without requiring personnel on site.
Our ambition is to equip nations and organisations, starting with Europe, with a scalable aerial intelligence infrastructure that strengthens public safety, protects critical infrastructure, and reinforces strategic autonomy.
Rift’s system combines long-endurance VTOL drones, autonomous deployment stations, and the RiftOS software platform. This approach allows for the centralisation of piloting at a single site, reducing costs by up to a factor of ten compared to traditional methods and eliminating the need for 24/7 field teams.
Through its proprietary detection technology and collaboration with the DGAC and European authorities, Rift is strengthening its regulatory position and enabling long-range operations and large-scale deployment across Europe.
Luc Ryan-Schreiber, Principal at AlleyCorp, noted that Rift is playing an important role in shaping the European aerial intelligence sector by expanding surveillance capacity while sharply reducing costs.
Rift’s integration of hardware, software, and data into the same architecture has the opportunity to improve the security of state infrastructure and bring much-needed technological advancements to the detection and protection of key assets.
With this funding, Rift will scale production of its autonomous drone stations using industrial processes tailored for large-volume, cost-efficient manufacturing.
In parallel, it will advance AI solutions to fully automate missions by 2027 and expand its surveillance network across Europe, with a focus on sensitive areas. To support this growth, Rift plans to double its workforce by 2026 and is already working on pilot projects with government and industrial partners.
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments