Censys Technologies

Censys Technologies was founded in 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida (near Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, with which it has an ongoing talent/training partnership) by Trevor Perrott (CEO), John Lobdell (CTO), and Payal Chaudhari (Chief Administrative Officer). From early on the company focused on fixed-wing, long-endurance drones capable of Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flight -- a harder-to-obtain FAA regulatory capability that lets a single aircraft cover tens of miles of linear infrastructure (power lines, pipelines, coastlines, roadways) per flight without a spotter. The company built a track record of BVLOS 'firsts' (a 12-mile commercial BVLOS flight in 2022, a 30-mile true-BVLOS flight in 2024) and now says it holds more than 85 FAA-approved BVLOS waivers, which it markets as a core competitive moat.

In July 2022 Censys closed an oversubscribed $8.3 million Series A round (originally targeted at $8 million), led by Kirenaga Partners -- an early-stage VC that had also led Censys's seed round -- with participation from Collective Capital Ventures. The capital was earmarked to help the company evolve from a 'drone company' into an 'airborne intelligence company,' investing in manufacturing capacity, imaging/data-processing/machine-learning capability, and progress toward FAA Type Certification. That same period the company also won an EPA SBIR Phase I award (Dec. 2022) and briefly showed a defense-oriented counter-UAS product, the 'Slayer Kinetic Killer' (debuted at AUVSI, Nov. 2022).

The product line has evolved from the Sentaero (and Sentaero 5, unveiled Feb. 2024) to the current flagship Sentaero 6 (unveiled Feb. 2025) -- a fixed-wing VTOL aircraft rated for roughly 2 hours of endurance, ~90 miles of range, and a 43 lb max takeoff weight, carrying interchangeable high-end payloads (61MP Sony ILX-LR1 RGB, GeoCue TrueView 540 LiDAR, YellowScan Mapper+, NextVision Raptor 360 EO/IR gimbal, PhaseOne GS-120, Altum PT multispectral). Alongside the aircraft, Censys sells the CensWise AI/ML platform, which turns raw sensor data (drone, satellite, vehicle-mounted) into asset-intelligence dashboards integrated with utility GIS/SCADA/EAM/OMS systems, and Mobile Intelligence Center vehicles that serve as field command hubs for BVLOS operations.

Business model

Hardware + software + services: sells/leases fixed-wing VTOL BVLOS drones (Sentaero line), the CensWise AI/ML analytics platform, mobile intelligence center vehicles, and offers Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) and FAA Part 107/BVLOS waiver consulting services.

Hardware sales/leasing of drones and dock/mobile-command systems, subscription/software fees for CensWise (tiered plans from roughly $3K/month), and services revenue from DaaS operations and FAA waiver consulting.