The Drone Company Worth $21.5 Billion: Zipline Nearly Triples Its Value in Ten Months

Zipline, the drone delivery startup out of South San Francisco, just raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion valuation. That’s close to triple the roughly $7.6 billion it was reportedly worth in January. Paradigm, WCM Investment Management, and Layer Global led the round, with Uber, Tiger Global, J.P. Morgan, Fidelity, ARK Invest, and Salesforce Ventures also in.

The money goes toward more U.S. manufacturing, hiring, and a nationwide network for groceries, meals, and medical supplies. Walmart is adding 300 more Zipline delivery sites, building on a partnership that started in 2021. Zipline says it has done over a million deliveries in Dallas-Fort Worth this year, with a median October delivery time of 19 minutes from checkout, versus more than 30 minutes for regular delivery (company figures). Uber wants 1 million drone deliveries a day by the end of 2029.

The aircraft hover around 330 feet and lower a pod on a tether rather than landing. The company started out in 2014 delivering blood and vaccines in Rwanda and Ghana. The hurdles are real, though: flying beyond line of sight, noise complaints, and whether the economics hold up at each site, all while Amazon and Wing compete.