The screen shows a map of Western Australia, a thin green line tracing a 500-kilometer path from the coast into the arid interior. The line is a gas pipeline. The green dot moving along it is not a helicopter or a plane, but a twin-rotor drone, flying autonomously beyond the pilot’s line of sight, its sensors collecting data on every weld and joint. This was the view from Xplorate Group’s operations center in October 2024, as the company completed what it called a “world first” remote pipeline inspection for a commercial customer [Xplorate company blog, October 2024]. It’s a quiet, pixelated moment that represents a loud bet: that the future of inspecting millions of kilometers of critical infrastructure is not in the cockpit, but in a remote operations room, watching a drone fly further than the eye can see.
The Wedge: Low, Slow, and Beyond Sight
Xplorate Group’s product is not a drone, but a service. The company describes itself as an “industrial infrastructure intelligence company,” combining the engineering of SwissDrones with the aircraft operations of its sister company, Xplorate Pacific [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF]. Its wedge is a specific type of mission: inspecting long, linear corridors like pipelines and powerlines. This is a job traditionally done by manned helicopters,expensive, limited by crew endurance, and risky in remote areas. Xplorate’s bet is that a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS), specifically engineered for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flight, can do it better.
The key is the aircraft itself: the SwissDrones SDO50, a twin-rotor helicopter UAV. It’s built for what the industry calls “low-and-slow” operations,vertical take-off, stable hovering, and precision flight at low speeds, which is essential for closely inspecting infrastructure [Xplorate]. It can be equipped with encrypted data links over radio, 4G/LTE, or even satellite to maintain control over the vast distances of a pipeline right-of-way. This technical spec translates to a commercial promise: continuous, detailed monitoring of assets that stretch across continents, delivered as a service.
Why Chevron Wrote the Check
The market Xplorate is addressing is measured in millions of kilometers. The company cites a global network of over 12 million kilometers of pipelines and powerlines that require continuous monitoring [Xplorate]. For energy giants and utilities, the cost of unplanned downtime or a catastrophic failure is measured in billions, making any innovation in predictive maintenance intensely valuable.
This logic appears to have driven Xplorate’s early funding. In July 2024, the company reported raising US$17 million in a seed round aimed at international expansion and commercial development [Business Pulse, July 2024]. Notably, 70% of that initial capital came from a consortium including a major energy company, a U.S. technology investor, and a New York-based family office. Publicly named investors now include Chevron Technology Ventures, DiamondStream Partners, Longbow Capital, and Ingleside Investors [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF]. The presence of Chevron’s venture arm is a powerful signal of industry validation; it’s not just venture capital betting on a platform, but a strategic customer betting on a future method of operation.
The Team and the Tangle
Leading the charge are co-founders Ronnie Fahy and Larry Berkin. Fahy, the Founder and CEO, brings an aviation operations background, having previously worked as an aviation consultant and with Shell in Australia [Crunchbase, Vertical Mag]. He manages the operational arm, Xplorate Pacific. Berkin, the Group CEO, brings over two decades of strategic planning and business development experience [me.sh]. Their partnership seems designed to bridge the gap between complex flight operations and scalable enterprise sales.
However, the company’s structure has seen recent complexity. In August 2026, SwissDrones CEO Ulrich Amberg departed amid a restructuring that formally separated the leadership of SwissDrones (the engineering partner), Xplorate Group (the intelligence company), and Xplorate Pacific (the operator) [DroneXL, August 2026]. This delineation could streamline focus, but it also introduces a new layer of commercial and operational coordination between now-distinct entities.
| Entity | Primary Role | Leadership (as of 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| SwissDrones | Aircraft engineering & manufacturing | Leadership separated [DroneXL, August 2026] |
| Xplorate Group, Inc. | Infrastructure intelligence & commercial services | Larry Berkin, Group CEO [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF] |
| Xplorate Pacific | Aircraft operations & mission execution | Ronnie Fahy, CEO [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF] |
The Risks in a Regulated Sky
For all its technical promise, Xplorate’s path is fraught with the kind of friction that doesn’t appear in a spec sheet. The company’s entire model depends on regulatory approval for BVLOS flights, a process that varies by country and is often slow. While it has secured Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approval for long-range operations in Australia, expansion into markets like the United States means navigating the Federal Aviation Administration’s evolving rulebook.
The competitive landscape, while not named in sources, is also implicit. The field includes:
- Legacy aviation services: Large, entrenched companies that operate manned inspection fleets and have deep customer relationships.
- Drone-as-a-service startups: Numerous smaller operators offering drone inspections, though often for shorter-range, visual-line-of-sight work.
- In-house programs: Major energy and utility companies developing their own drone capabilities.
Xplorate’s answer to these pressures is its integrated model,controlling the aircraft technology, the operational expertise, and the intelligence delivery. The question is whether this vertical integration provides enough speed and reliability to outpace both regulatory inertia and competitive encroachment.
The Next Twelve Months of Flight Lines
The immediate milestones for Xplorate are clear. The company targeted a second tranche of its seed funding for closure in the third quarter of 2024 [Business Pulse, July 2024]. Securing this capital will be crucial for funding the “international operational expansion” it has promised. The next proof points will likely be named customer contracts and repeat deployments beyond the initial “world first” pipeline inspection. A job listing for a BVLOS Remote Pilot in Perth, active as of September 2026, suggests ongoing mission growth [Seek, September 2026].
The larger story, however, is cultural. Xplorate isn’t just selling a cheaper inspection. It’s selling a change in perspective,from seeing infrastructure inspection as a periodic, disruptive event requiring crews on-site, to seeing it as a continuous, data-rich stream managed from a remote hub. The product is the drone flight, but the question it’s answering is one of trust: can the industry learn to trust a green dot on a screen, flying where no pilot can see, to guard its most critical physical assets? The $17 million from Chevron and others is a bet that, for pipelines stretching to the horizon, the answer is already yes.
Sources
- [Business Pulse, July 2024] Xplorate expanding aerial intelligence presence globally | https://cciwa.com/business-pulse/xplorate-expanding-aerial-intelligence-presence-globally/
- [DroneXL, August 2026] SwissDrones CEO Exits On LinkedIn As Leadership Splits Three Ways | https://dronexl.co/2026/08/31/swissdrones-ceo-ulrich-amberg-steps-down-xplorate-group/
- [Xplorate company blog, October 2024] Xplorate Completes a World First Pipeline Inspection Using RPAS | https://blog.xplorate.io/blog/xplorate-completes-a-world-first-pipeline-inspection-using-drone-technology
- [Crunchbase] Ronnie Fahy - CEO & Founder @ Xplorate - Crunchbase Person Profile | https://www.crunchbase.com/person/ronnie-fahy
- [Vertical Mag] Ronnie Fahy also served as an aviation consultant for Shell in Australia | https://www.verticalmag.com/
- [me.sh, retrieved 2026] Larry Berkin has 20 years of experience in strategic planning and business development | https://me.sh/
- [Xplorate] Home - Xplorate | https://xplorate.io/
- [Seek, September 2026] BVLOS Remote Pilot job listing | https://www.seek.com.au/drone-jobs/in-All-Perth-WA