Zipline raises $1.5 billion to expand its drone delivery network

Drone delivery company Zipline raised $1.5 billion in new funding, valuing the company at $21.5 billion after the round. The investment was led by Paradigm, WCM, and Layer Global, with participation from Uber, Tiger Global, Fidelity, J.P. Morgan, ARK Invest, Salesforce Ventures, and other backers. Zipline plans to use the money to expand manufacturing in the United States and grow its workforce. As part of the announcement, Walmart agreed to a new multi-year deal adding 300 more delivery sites, while Uber said it is targeting 1 million Zipline deliveries per day by 2029 as the companies deepen their partnership. Zipline reported that in October, the median delivery in its operating areas took about 19 minutes from checkout to arrival. The size of the raise and the scale of these commitments suggest drone delivery is moving from pilot programs toward a genuine logistics network meant to handle everyday retail orders at volume.

Why it matters

One of the largest funding rounds yet for drone logistics signals real commercial scale is starting to arrive, not just pilots.

Source: Zipline