Rift Secures €4.6M For Global On-Demand Real-Time Aerial Intelligence Network

The funding round was led by AlleyCorp, with participation from OVNI Capital.

A pioneer in autonomous drone-based observation, Paris-based Rift is building an aerial intelligence infrastructure to safeguard national territories, critical infrastructure, and civilian populations.

Rising geopolitical tensions and climate risks are putting critical infrastructure and borders under pressure, driving demand for long-range aerial surveillance. Current solutions are costly and inefficient: a helicopter flight hour can exceed €3,000 and requires constant human presence, limiting missions and creating blind spots that increase security risks.

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Rift offers a more efficient alternative, enabling continuous monitoring of sensitive areas at a fraction of the cost. Its “Surveillance-as-a-Service” model transforms a traditionally capital-intensive market into a flexible, zero-CAPEX service. Ministries, infrastructure operators and industrial groups can gain instant access to aerial surveillance while retaining full control over their data.

The platform supports a wide range of operational use cases, including early wildfire detection, highway incident monitoring, illegal border crossing tracking, and oversight of pipelines, power lines, and railways for leaks or intrusions. This allows authorities and operators to gain faster situational awareness and coordinate responses 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 integrates long-endurance VTOL drones, autonomous deployment stations, and the RiftOS software platform. This setup centralizes drone operations at a single site, cutting costs by up to tenfold compared to traditional methods and eliminating the need for round-the-clock field teams.

Leveraging 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 optimized for large-volume, cost-efficient manufacturing.

The company also plans to advance AI solutions to fully automate missions by 2027 and expand its surveillance network across Europe, focusing on sensitive areas. To support this growth, Rift aims to double its workforce by 2026 and is already engaging in pilot projects with government and industrial partners.

About Rift

Rift provides real-time aerial intelligence for homeland security. Using long-range drones launched from autonomous ground stations and piloted from a central operations center, Rift protects borders, infrastructure, and territories. Its rapidly deployable systems cover hundreds of kilometers, delivering live intelligence with the speed and scale essential for critical missions.