French startup plans real-time drone surveillance layer for borders and critical infrastructure
Rift, a Paris-based deep-tech startup, has raised €4.6 million to build what it calls a global network for on-demand, real-time aerial intelligence. The seed round is led by U.S. firm AlleyCorp, with participation from OVNI Capital in France. The company plans to use the funding to scale its autonomous drone infrastructure and deploy its first operational network from a remote command center in France.
From Costly Missions to “Surveillance-as-a-Service”
Long-range aerial surveillance has often relied on manned aircraft and helicopters, which are expensive to operate and require crews in the field. According to the company, an hour of helicopter flight can exceed €3,000, making continuous coverage difficult and leaving blind spots over large or remote areas.
Rift proposes a different approach. The company offers “Surveillance-as-a-Service,” turning what has been a capital-intensive activity into a flexible, subscription-style service. Ministries, infrastructure operators, and industrial groups can tap into aerial monitoring capacity without purchasing aircraft or deploying pilots to the field.
The company says its model helps customers monitor:
- Wildfire hotspots and early outbreaks
- Highway accidents and incident scenes
- Illegal border crossings or suspicious movements along frontiers
- Pipelines, power lines, and railways for leaks, damage, or intrusions
By providing early aerial visibility over wide areas, Rift aims to help operators coordinate faster, limit damage, and reduce safety risks.
A Distributed Network of Autonomous Drones
Rift describes its platform as a full-stack system that combines long-endurance VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) drones, autonomous launch and recovery stations, and proprietary mission software called RiftOS.
Instead of placing pilots in the field, the company centralizes operations at a single remote site. From there, operators can supervise many drones, deployed in different regions, that take off, fly missions, and land autonomously. Rift says this model can lower operating costs by up to a factor of ten compared to traditional methods, while removing the need for 24/7 local teams.
The company frames its network as a bridge between ground responders and satellite imagery.
“Rift is building the missing link between ground teams and satellites, a network capable of instantly covering critical areas, without an operator on site, to provide real-time situational awareness where and when it matters most” said Daniel Nef, Rift Co-founder and CEO.
“Our ambition is to equip nations and organizations, starting with Europe, with a scalable aerial intelligence infrastructure that strengthens public safety, protects critical infrastructure, and reinforces strategic autonomy.”
Regulatory Advantage and European Focus
To unlock long-range and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, Rift is working closely with France’s civil aviation authority (DGAC) and other European regulators. Its technology stack includes proprietary detection capabilities, which the company says will support safe, long-distance flights and large-scale networks across Europe.
That regulatory work is key to the company’s model. The concept depends on drone fleets that can patrol borders, coastlines, or long linear infrastructure with minimal local staffing. As European authorities refine frameworks for BVLOS and autonomous operations, Rift aims to position its network as a ready-made layer of aerial intelligence that can fit within those rules.
In the medium term, the startup is targeting sensitive areas where intrusions, sabotage, or other threats demand constant vigilance. That includes border regions, coastal zones, industrial corridors, and energy infrastructure.
Scaling Production and Automating the Mission Cycle
With the new funding, Rift plans to ramp up production of its autonomous stations, which are about the size of a shipping container and can house multiple drones. The stations are designed for continuous relay operations, enabling 24/7 coverage over a given area.
The company is also investing in AI-driven analytics. By 2027, Rift aims to automate the full mission cycle, including planning, execution, anomaly detection, and reporting. The vision is a system that can detect a problem—such as an intrusion, fire start, or infrastructure anomaly—flag it, and feed structured information back to operators without human intervention at each step.
Rift links this automation roadmap to broader European goals around border security and critical site protection, where responsiveness and cost control are increasingly important.
Investor View: Structuring a New Market
For lead investor AlleyCorp, the attraction lies in both the technology stack and the market Rift is targeting.
“Rift is taking a key step in structuring the European aerial intelligence market, multiplying surveillance capabilities while significantly lowering costs,” said Luc Ryan-Schreiber, Principal at AlleyCorp. “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.”
Rift plans to double its workforce by the end of 2026, with new roles in research and development, data, certification, and production. The company is already working with state and industrial partners on pilot projects in maritime and terrestrial surveillance.
Building a Global “Network of Visibility”
Founded in 2023 by Daniel Nef and Dorian Millière, both formerly of OpenClassrooms, Rift describes its mission as building the world’s “network of visibility.” Its long-endurance VTOL drones, autonomous deployment stations, and RiftOS software are all designed in-house.
By offering a “Surveillance-as-a-Service” model, the company aims to give governments and industries global access to real-time aerial intelligence, delivered as an on-demand resource rather than a capital project.
If Rift’s model scales as planned, it could create a persistent aerial layer that sits between satellites and ground teams, giving public and private operators a new way to see, understand, and protect their environments in real time.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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