Location
    
Zurich
  
  

    
Guest
    
Alex Pachikov – Sunflower Labs
  

    
Interviewer
    
Max Rheiner, Riva Pinto
  

Context

Founded in Switzerland, Sunflower Labs develops autonomous drone systems designed to operate as flying security guards for commercial and industrial sites. The system combines autonomous flight, computer vision and AI to conduct patrol missions and verify alarms within defined operational areas. While research and development are based in Europe, much of the company’s market growth takes place in the United States, where regulatory conditions and approval pathways differ significantly.

CEO Alex Pachikov explains the technological foundations of the system, the challenges of scaling autonomous operations in Europe, and how innovation, aviation regulation and privacy considerations intersect in practice.

Sunflower Labs: https://sunflower-labs.com

Interview

Max Rheiner: Alex, you are American and built your previous company in Silicon Valley. Why did you decide to start Sunflower Labs in Switzerland instead of the US?

Alex Pachikov: My previous company was in the Bay Area. I was one of the founders of Evernote, where we built cloud synchronized note taking software. I was there for about ten years, and when I left, I wanted to do something completely different.

I was interested in drones, computer vision and early AI, and both of my co founders are Swiss. When the three of us, me, Chris and Nick, were deciding where to start the company, we debated Switzerland versus the US. One of the main reasons we chose Switzerland was access to high quality talent around ETH, EPFL and the University of Zurich. We felt cutting edge research would set us apart.

I honestly thought it would be easier. I came from Silicon Valley thinking it would be the same, and I did not appreciate the complexity of building here. But that is essentially the founding story.

Riva Pinto: Today you work with autonomous drone systems in the security sector. In what contexts are your systems used, what tasks do they perform, and what concrete problems do they address?

Max Rheiner: And how did you come up with the idea?

Alex Pachikov: How people come up with ideas — there are two versions of that story. There’s the actual one, which is not as glorious, and then there’s the story you tell.

We explored a lot of different ideas and ended up with this one because we thought it would be easier to realize than it was. We are building flying security guards. Security felt like a sector that was ripe for disruption. Traditional security is basically humans or cameras. We wanted to bridge that gap with a flying system that is intelligent and can identify different things. Drones, autonomy, robotics and now AI are coming together in a way that makes more effective security systems possible. AI is the last mile. It makes the system more than a passive camera because it can assess situations, not just detect objects.

We started almost ten years ago and went through several phases. We first worked on a residential product, but when COVID hit in 2020, we basically died as a company. We came back, pivoted to commercial security, and in 2022 and 2023 we started shipping systems and became a real business. More recently, we raised money from Sequoia.

Max Rheiner: How many employees do you have?

Alex Pachikov: Before COVID, we were around 18 people. When COVID hit, we dropped to about eight and were not making any money. Then we got our first customers, raised some money and regrouped in 2021. At the beginning of last year, we were around 28 to 30 people. Now we are around 45 to 47 including contractors, with about 32 full time employees.

Max Rheiner: You said security was a very traditional sector. When you pitch your idea, what is the main selling point? What motivates customers to buy it?

Alex Pachikov: Pitching to investors and pitching to customers are very different conversations.

The pitch to investors is that security is a large market and that, just as cars are expected to become autonomous, security will become autonomous too. The idea is to build a system that can do the job of security guards more efficiently, faster and cheaper.

For security, flying is often more effective than walking. You need a good camera, autonomous navigation in different weather and lighting conditions, and a system that can react to what it sees. AI is what turns it from a passive camera into something closer to a security guard.

The pitch to customers is simpler: it saves money. Security is expensive whether you use sensors, cameras or people, and we can make it cheaper, simpler and more effective.

There is also deterrence. We have footage where someone is on a property, the drone flies out and looks at them, and they leave. They realize they have been noticed. Cameras do not do that.

Max Rheiner: Is your system fully autonomous?

Alex Pachikov: It is as autonomous as the government lets us have it. The technology is fully autonomous. If regulations did not require a pilot in command, the drone could do everything without human involvement, and we operate that way in other countries.

In Switzerland, the US and the EU, a flying drone requires a pilot in command. Our solution is a standby pilot who is logged into the system and available if needed. This is how SBB and Swisscom use it. One person takes the role of pilot in command, and the drone runs missions autonomously. In practice, they rarely need to intervene.

We also demonstrated that the drone handles emergencies faster than a human can. It can detect loss of communication, return automatically, or land and trigger emergency procedures. We have detailed procedures for emergency scenarios, so in practice the human’s role is mostly to step in afterwards if something goes wrong.

Riva Pinto: Security drones raise questions about data protection and social acceptance. How do you experience that?

Alex Pachikov: We do far more to protect privacy than traditional security systems. We automatically blur anything we should not be looking at.

Traditional cameras often look outward into streets or neighboring properties. We are only allowed to fly within a defined area, and if the system looks toward neighboring properties, we blur that footage in real time while still monitoring the parts of the site we are allowed to see.

When authorities asked what happens if unblurred footage is needed in the case of a crime, we implemented an escrow system. Unblurred footage can only be accessed with a police report, is stored for 90 days, and then destroyed. Those settings are configurable.

Riva Pinto: You've worked in different innovation contexts, including Switzerland and the US. What differences do you observe when it comes to handling autonomous drone systems?

Alex Pachikov: When the EU introduced its drone regulations in 2019, we initially welcomed them. The message was that Europe now had a clear framework for drone operations. With SORA and defined approval processes, we believed scaling would be possible. We even argued to investors that Europe had a framework, whereas the US did not. In practice, it became far more complex. SORA evolved and added layers of documentation and procedural requirements. Our SORA documents can reach 300 pages, and although the framework is harmonised, implementation varies between countries. Switzerland later aligned with the European framework, which added further complexity.

The US system followed a different approach. Under Part 107, operations were restrictive, but companies could apply for waivers by demonstrating safety. We received our first waiver in 2022, then several more, and eventually a nationwide waiver covering BVLOS, flights over people and vehicles, and low visibility operations. That changed our business reality. In the US, we can sell in most of the country without site-by-site approvals, operating under agreed safety criteria with the FAA. Our sales cycle there is typically one to two months. In Europe, it can take one to two years.

If regulation is optimised for zero risk, it becomes very difficult for innovation to scale. You can't make an omelette if you don't break any eggs. Safety needs a clear and realistic target standard. The current burden and timelines are especially hard for startups. That is one reason why we develop our drones in Switzerland but sell most of them in the US.

Max Rheiner: Would you move the company at one point because of that?

Alex Pachikov: It is not really a question of moving the company. Our market is elsewhere. We do great research here, and I am not going to move 30 people. But it is less attractive and harder to build this kind of business here, and that lowers the probability of success.

Max Rheiner: If you could change something what would you change or what would you tell politicians to change for companies like yours?

Alex Pachikov: I do not have a solution. I can articulate the problem, but solving European bureaucratic problems is not something I can help with. Switzerland is not in the EU, but in practice it is still part of the same European aviation reality. In airspace regulation, that creates a complicated situation, especially for cross border operations.

I live in Basel. I can go to France for a croissant in the morning, go to Germany, and come back. But I could not do that with a drone.