Zipping Around the World

Zipline, which operates the world’s largest autonomous drone delivery network, just raised $190 million in new funding, putting its valuation at $1.2 billion.

In Rwanda, it’s spent years building its aerial logistics and delivery business. Last month, it expanded operations into Ghana and its service area to 22 million people. “Drones are just 10% of the complexity,” Zipline spokesman Justin Hamilton told me.

How to Zipline

1. Clinics/hospitals text in orders for critical medical products.
2. A fixed-wing drone launches from a distribution center, flies autonomously, drops the payload with a parachute, and returns home.
3. A robotic arm snatches the drone, “similar to an aircraft carrier.”

With the new $$$, Zipline will scale its team, begin service in Asia and the Americas, and build more of those aircraft carriers. It’s coming to North Carolina later this year and hoping to woo U.S. regulators. The ultimate goal? “To bring service to every person on the planet.”

Bottom line: Delivering life-saving products to hard-to-reach rural areas is a good use case for autonomous drones—as reflected in Zipline’s unicorn status, investor roster, and ambitious expansion plans.