Drone builder Zipline gains $250 million investment for “instant logistics” deliveries

dcv zipline 250mmCalifornia drone developer Zipline International Inc. today said it has gained $250 million in new funding for its autonomous, airborne “on-demand delivery service,” which has seen recent service during the Covid-19 pandemic delivering PPE for a North Carolina hospital and vaccines for patients in Ghana.

Zipline will use the backing to advance its autonomy platform, aircraft, fulfillment systems, and operations. “The funding will also fuel our continued expansion into new industries and geographies, transforming systems like healthcare and commerce with instant logistics, and strengthen our support of local communities and the partners we work with,” the company said in a blog post.

The funding came from new investors Fidelity, Intercorp, Emerging Capital Partners, and Reinvent Capital, alongside ongoing support from Baillie Gifford, Temasek, and Katalyst Ventures.

The seven-year-old company makes cargo planes with five-foot wingspans that cruise about 80 mph using battery-powered propellers. Each drone can carry a four-pound payload within a 50-mile radius, before dropping its parcel by parachute and automatically returning to base.

In the past year, Zipline has launched partnerships to use that technology in new areas, such as projects with Toyota Group in Japan, with Walmart in the U.S., and in multiple countries with vaccine-maker Pfizer.

This round will help Zipline continue to scale our platform, extend our technology leadership in autonomy and instant logistics, and reach hundreds of millions of people in new countries around the world. Forward!https://t.co/gXHLzJ9Yi6

— Zipline (@zipline) June 30, 2021