Aloft
Taking control of the skies
Decisive Point is pleased to announce its investment in Aloft, Inc., the developer of a cross-platform drone operations application that facilitates safe drone operation and provides full awareness of surrounding airspace and aircraft.
Increasingly crowded skies
The skies are where analog systems are becoming digitally autonomous networks, and where traditional companies are becoming aviation companies. There has never been a better time to look up; however, managing for safety, compliance, and productivity continues to grow more challenging.
Within the decade, the FAA will need to monitor over 50M flights per day across 1000x more airspace than what is currently utilized by aircraft. Current infrastructure is ill-equipped to handle this growth, creating demand for a tool that can process flight plans, airspace data, and facilitate real-time de-confliction. Existing relationships with the FAA and commercial customers have positioned Aloft to connect the most drone stakeholders in one platform, spanning the $2.5B recreational, commercial, and government drone operations market.
Aloft’s solution for the future
Aloft’s drone application offers pre-flight planning, weather conditions, in-flight live traffic, airspace status, advisories, and post-flight logging and intelligence, enabling users to operate safely with full awareness of their surrounding airspace and aircraft. Aloft captures a substantial share of the drone airspace management market, leveraging patented technology and its exclusive relationship with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) B4UFLY app program, where Aloft is a vital component of the drone flight authorization process. A diverse range of industries that are eager to implement drone capabilities has expressed interest in Aloft’s software, building upon an existing customer base that includes Traveler’s Insurance, PG&E, Boeing, and Xcel.
Aloft’s software is poised to become the default risk mitigation strategy for deploying drones at scale, with the platform currently processing 50% of all drone airspace authorizations. Pilot programs have proven Aloft’s data processing and management capabilities for large drone fleet customers such as Shell, leading to expanded deployment across business operations.
Aloft’s Airspace API platform enables the data in the B4UFly app to be available for customers programmatically, enabling customers to integrate high-quality airspace information into their applications and workflows. This includes data for: Class Airspace, Airports, Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs), Stadiums, National Security UAS Flight Restrictions (NSUFRs), DOD, and other restricted areas. Since launching the API platform, Aloft secured the Department of Homeland Security as a customer.
Aloft’s team
Aloft’s 30-person team draws on experience in software development, drone piloting, and entrepreneurship to drive market growth and further refine its airspace management technology. The company’s founders are seasoned entrepreneurs, software developers, and certified commercial drone pilots that serve on the FAA’s Unmanned Aviation Safety Team.
Decisive Point is thrilled to be partnering with Aloft to enable safe low-altitude flight and scale and support growth and traction within the Department of Defense and commercial markets.
