Zipline has raised $1.5 billion and signed a new multi-year agreement with Walmart to add 300 drone delivery sites across the United States. The companies currently operate 21 sites together. The funding values the autonomous drone delivery company at $21.5 billion.
Paradigm, WCM Investment Management, and Layer Global led the raise. Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Uber, Tiger Global, J.P. Morgan, ARK Invest, and Salesforce Ventures also participated.
Zipline said it plans to use the money to expand its U.S. manufacturing facilities and hire workers as it builds a nationwide drone delivery network. Its delivery system includes aircraft, launch and landing systems, and logistics software.
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Founded in 2014, the California-based company began by delivering blood in Rwanda. It later expanded to Ghana and Nigeria. Zipline started U.S. operations in 2020, carrying medical equipment and supplies to Novant Health in North Carolina, and signed its first drone delivery agreement with Walmart in 2021.
In 2022, Zipline received Part 135 air carrier certification from the Federal Aviation Administration. That authorization allowed it to make long-range commercial drone deliveries. The company has since added other partners, including Uber earlier this year.
Zipline now delivers products in multiple countries
Zipline now delivers food, retail, agricultural, and health products in five African countries, several U.S. cities, and Japan. Its Platform 2 home delivery drones can carry up to eight pounds to customers within a 10-mile radius. Its larger Platform 1 drones serve enterprise, business, and government customers on routes of up to 120 miles round trip.
Zipline said Thursday that its share of delivery revenue rose from 10.8% in March to 34.9% in October this year. The next steps are to add the Walmart sites and use the new funding to expand U.S. manufacturing and hiring.
