PrivateFounded 2014🇺🇸South San Francisco, CaliforniaCEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton
Zipline is an American robotics and logistics company operating the world's largest autonomous delivery service.
Latest update Oct 1, 2026
01
After pioneering national-scale medical drone delivery in Rwanda, the company has grown into a global network that has flown more than 135 million autonomous miles and completed over 2.7 million commercial deliveries (1 million of those in the trailing 12 months alone) across more than 5,000 hospitals and health centers. Its homepage now states 60,000+ lives saved to date. U.S. consumer and healthcare delivery has become the growth engine: American deliveries now account for more than 70% of Zipline's daily volume worldwide, a reversal for a network historically anchored in African public health, and the company is now completing a delivery roughly every 20 seconds, up from about once a minute in early 2025. In 2025, Zipline commercially launched Platform 2, its quieter home-delivery system, in Pea Ridge, Arkansas and more than 20 Dallas-Fort Worth communities with Walmart and more than a dozen restaurant brands. In early 2026, backed by an $800M Series H round valuing the company at $7.6B, Zipline launched services in Houston and Phoenix and scaled its North Texas network to 16+ brands and public-space delivery points. In mid-2026 it added Austin and Cleveland (the latter via a Cleveland Clinic prescription-delivery partnership that went live August 3, 2026), partnered with food-technology platform Wonder for drone meal delivery launching January 2027, and was selected by BayCare to build Tampa Bay's first medical drone network. On August 17, 2026, Uber announced a strategic investment in and partnership with Zipline to bring drone delivery to Uber Eats nationwide, starting in Dallas and Houston by year-end 2026 and targeting 1 million drone deliveries a day by the end of 2029. Seattle remains the next named consumer market, but as of September 14, 2026 the FAA had not posted a FONSI after the November 2, 2025 comment close and commercial service had not launched. On September 11, 2026 the FAA posted a draft environmental assessment for an OpSpecs amendment covering Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo and El Paso (up to 220,000 deliveries a day), and on September 9 Cote d'Ivoire's Council of Ministers advanced a 10-center medical drone PPP with Zipline SARL.
zipline.comUpdated Sep 14, 2026
Analysis · 3 min read · Jun 14, 2026The long view on Zipline: strategy, technology and what to watch02
2026
Bloomberg reported on September 16, 2026 that Zipline is in talks to raise about $1 billion at a valuation of roughly $20 billion, close to three times the $7.6 billion post-money mark set when the $800 million Series H closed in March 2026. Existing investor Paradigm is said to be in discussions to lead, with prior backer Tiger Global weighing participation alongside Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia, Fidelity and Baillie Gifford. The talks are described as early, the figures could change, and Zipline declined to comment, so the round is not closed. Watch where the final size and valuation settle and whether the capital is tied to the U.S. consumer push (Uber Eats in Dallas and Houston by year-end, the five-metro Texas OpSpecs amendment, Seattle) rather than the international public-health network.
2026-2028
After the September 9, 2026 Council of Ministers communication on the December 2025 PPP with Zipline SARL, the near-term work is opening the Daloa pilot and the Biankouma, San Pedro and Kouto sites during a 27-month first phase, then six further centers in Abidjan and five interior regions. Infrastructure is described as U.S.-grant funded, with the Ivorian state paying operating services; no public opening date for Daloa has been announced.
2026
With Austin (its third Texas metro) and Cleveland now live, Seattle is the next announced consumer market (via a Panera Bread / Flynn Group partnership); the FAA's environmental review for up to 75 Seattle-area delivery sites closed its public comment period on November 2, 2025, but as of September 14, 2026 the FAA had not posted a FONSI and commercial service had not launched. In Cleveland, Cleveland Clinic officially launched prescription drone delivery via Zipline on August 3, 2026. Zipline has targeted expansion into at least four new states in 2026, with cities such as Salt Lake City, Long Island, Jacksonville, and Rochester in the pipeline backed by the $800M Series H.
2026–2027
The next major international milestone is executing Rwanda's new plan, funded by a $150M U.S. State Department pay-for-performance award: the new long-range Karongi distribution center - a $2M+ facility on the DRC border expected to operate 35 drones, serve roughly 200 health posts and 60 major facilities for about 2.8-2.9 million people, and create 45 local jobs - was targeted to begin operating in August 2026, but as of September 14, 2026 no official opening or ribbon-cutting had been publicly confirmed. Next comes bringing Platform 2 into Kigali - Africa's first urban drone delivery network - in 2027, plus standing up Zipline's first overseas AI and robotics testing hub.
Oct 2026
The FAA's September 11, 2026 draft environmental assessment covers a proposed OpSpecs amendment for commercial Zipline delivery in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo and El Paso, with up to 220 Chargers, 4,400 Dropboxes and 220,000 deliveries a day. A 30-day public comment period is open; a Finding of No Significant Impact, if issued, would be the next federal step before those expanded operations can be authorized. Dallas-Fort Worth already has a December 2025 FONSI and is not part of this draft EA.
Late 2026
Following the August 17, 2026 partnership and strategic investment from Uber, Zipline's first Uber Eats drone deployments are set to begin in Dallas and Houston by the end of 2026, ahead of an expansion to dozens more US cities and a joint goal of 1 million drone deliveries a day by the end of 2029.
Late 2026
Like every U.S. drone-delivery operator, Zipline has scaled by negotiating beyond-visual-line-of-sight waivers site by site. FAA Part 108 (NPRM published August 2025, 3,000+ comments) would replace that waiver regime with a standardized, performance-based framework for routine BVLOS operations, removing the permitting bottleneck on Zipline's multi-state expansion. The rule missed the 240-day deadline set by the June 2025 executive order (expired February 1, 2026) and has sat with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs since July 10, 2026 - OIRA review of a significant rule can run up to 90 days, putting the earliest plausible release around October 2026, though industry analysts now expect a final rule closer to late 2026 or early 2027 followed by a 6-12 month implementation period. In an August 1, 2026 report, DOT chief of staff Pete Meachum said the delay is deliberate, meant to avoid locking today's detect-and-avoid technology into the rule and to prevent it from favoring incumbents; Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton said the resulting uncertainty is freezing private investment in the sector even though Zipline itself already holds federal BVLOS approvals.
Late 2026
2027
Several major U.S. launches are slated for 2027: BayCare's Tampa Bay medical drone network - Zipline's first Florida deployment, carrying prescriptions, lab samples, and supplies, beginning in late 2027 in the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area of Pinellas County before expanding into Hillsborough - drone meal delivery for food-technology platform Wonder across 100+ Texas locations, starting in Dallas in January 2027, and Advocate Health's hospital drone network, beginning in Charlotte before expanding to Chicago and Milwaukee, targeting more than 100,000 deliveries a year at full scope with additional plans for Georgia.
03
Bloomberg reported on September 16 that Zipline is in talks to raise about $1 billion in a round that would value the autonomous drone delivery company at roughly $20 billion, nearly tripling the $7.6 billion mark set when it closed its $800 million Series H in March. Existing investor Paradigm is in discussions to lead and prior backer Tiger Global is weighing participation, but the talks are early, the figures could change, and Zipline declined to comment. The raise would land as Zipline pushes from medical logistics into mainstream U.S. consumer delivery, with Uber Eats drone service due in Dallas and Houston by year-end and an FAA draft environmental assessment open for five Texas metros.
The FAA posted a draft environmental assessment on September 11, 2026 for Zipline to amend its air-carrier operations specifications and begin commercial drone package delivery in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo and El Paso. The proposed action would allow up to 220 Chargers, 4,400 Dropboxes and 220,000 deliveries a day across those five metros, with a 30-day public comment period. Comments go to 9-FAA-Drone-Environmental@faa.gov or by mail to the FAA's AVS Environmental office.
Cote d'Ivoire's Council of Ministers on September 9 adopted a communication on a public-private partnership, signed in December 2025, with Zipline SARL to build and operate 10 drone centers for medical products, strategic inputs and blood. Phase 1 runs 27 months and covers the Daloa pilot plus Biankouma, San Pedro and Kouto; phase 2 adds six centers in Abidjan and the Indenie-Djuablin, Gbeke, Kabadougou, Belier and Gontougo regions. A U.S. grant would fund infrastructure while the Ivorian state pays for operating services.
A Zipline food-delivery drone came down Friday morning, September 4, 2026, in the southbound lanes of Highway 6 near Timber Creek Place Lane in northwest Harris County. Zipline said no one was hurt and no property was damaged; local law enforcement told KPRC 2 they received no calls about the aircraft. A photo shared with the station showed the electric drone in the roadway with its parachute deployed after what the company called a midflight issue on the way to pick up an order.
Uber and Zipline announced a partnership on August 17 to bring autonomous drone delivery to Uber Eats customers across the United States, with Uber making a strategic investment in Zipline as part of the deal. First deployments begin in Dallas and Houston by year end within Zipline's existing US markets before expanding to dozens more cities, with the companies targeting 1 million drone deliveries a day by the end of 2029 and delivery times as fast as 5 to 10 minutes.
Cleveland Clinic began delivering prescription medications by Zipline drone to patients within a five-mile radius of its Beachwood, Ohio campus starting the week of July 27, in what it calls the first long-term prescription drone delivery program run by a major U.S. health system. Eligible patients already enrolled in the clinic's pharmacy home-delivery program can opt into drone delivery at no extra cost, with plans to expand to more locations and add lab samples, meals and supplies.
Zipline said on July 13 it hired Sendil Palani, a 17-year Tesla finance veteran, as CFO, former Waymo chief legal officer Kevin Vosen as its own CLO, and ex-Uber executive Allen Penn to lead commercial, as it accelerates its US expansion. The company said the number of businesses offering delivery through its app grew 13-fold in the first half of 2026, and it has now completed more than 2.5 million commercial deliveries, including 1 million in the past year alone. Zipline also launched its first US healthcare home-delivery service with Cleveland Clinic and opened food and retail delivery in Austin, Texas.
Zipline said on July 15 that the number of businesses offering delivery through its app grew 13-fold in the first half of 2026, pushing its lifetime total past 2.5 million autonomous commercial deliveries - including one million in the past year alone. The drone-logistics company launched consumer service in Austin and a home prescription-delivery partnership with Cleveland Clinic, its first healthcare home-delivery service, and CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton told CNBC he expects the US business to grow 15x over 2026. To scale, Zipline hired executives from Tesla, Waymo and Uber, including former Tesla finance vice president Sendil Palani as chief financial officer.
BayCare, the largest not-for-profit health system in West Central Florida, said on July 1 it will partner with Zipline to build a health care drone delivery network for lab samples, medications and critical supplies moved between facilities and directly to patients' homes. The service is expected to launch in late 2027, starting in the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area before expanding across the Tampa Bay region. It extends Zipline's push into on-demand U.S. medical logistics under its FAA-approved autonomous delivery operations.
Food-tech platform Wonder announced on June 30 a partnership with Zipline to offer on-demand drone delivery across its Texas locations, starting in Dallas in January 2027. Wonder expects most of its Texas locations to offer drone delivery by the end of 2027 and plans to open more than 100 stores in the state. Zipline's electric drones fly up to 300 feet at speeds up to 70 mph and deliver directly to customers' homes without specialized packaging.
04
Zipline's next-generation delivery system featuring a large fixed-wing autonomous drone that carries a tethered delivery droid. The P2 drone cruises at altitude, then lowers the droid on a tether to deliver packages weighing up to 8 lbs precisely to doorsteps, porches, or backyards - then retracts the droid and flies back. The system is 10x quieter than P1, requires no landing zone, and enables true last-mile home delivery in suburban and urban areas.
Zipline's original long-range delivery platform, optimized for enterprise, business, and government routes where speed and reliability matter more than dense urban doorstep service. It remains the backbone of many healthcare and public-sector logistics networks.
05
06
Operating status
Active; Uber Eats Dallas/Houston still later this year
Active. No first paid Uber Eats Zipline delivery in Dallas or Houston has been announced through 1 Oct 2026. Uber's 17 Aug IR release still says first deployments later this year; Zipline's partnership page remains future-tense. Homepage still shows 60,000+ lives saved and an 86-second fastest delivery. The FAA five-metro Texas draft EA comment period runs through 11 Oct 2026 with no FONSI posted. Seattle FONSI, Karongi opening, and the reported ~$1B / ~$20B round remain unconfirmed. Deep-audit gaps: Wikipedia timed out; newsroom index 404; Bloomberg terminal not opened.
Government & Public Health Delivery
Contracts with ministries of health and public agencies to deliver blood, vaccines, essential medicines, lab materials, and animal-health products through national or regional logistics networks.
U.S. Commercial Retail Delivery
Partnerships with Walmart and other merchants for instant delivery of retail goods, groceries, prescriptions, and health products to homes in active U.S. markets.
Home delivery for more than a dozen restaurant brands, including Chipotle, Crumbl, Blaze Pizza, Wendy's, Little Caesars, and Hawaiian Bros, using Platform 2.
Direct contracts with U.S. hospital and health systems - including Memorial Hermann, Cleveland Clinic, BayCare, and Advocate Health - for home and inter-facility delivery of prescriptions, lab samples, and medical supplies, distinct from the international government public-health contracts above.
07
How past announced dates turned out.
1/1announced date hit on time
Scale manufacturing capacity for P2 demand
Target 2026–2027 · Resolved Jul 14, 2026
Zipline confirmed its tripled South San Francisco manufacturing facility now has the capacity to build 24,000 autonomous aircraft a year, exceeding the original 15,000-aircraft annual target set when the expansion was announced in September 2025.
08
2026
FAA Texas five-metro draft EA comments remain open through 11 October
As of 1 October 2026 the FAA still lists a draft environmental assessment for Zipline commercial package delivery in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo and El Paso, with public comments due 11 October 2026. No FONSI is posted. This is an OpSpecs expansion review, not an Uber Eats launch notice.
FAA posts draft EA for five-metro Texas OpSpecs expansion
On September 11, 2026 the FAA published a draft environmental assessment for Zipline to amend its air-carrier operations specifications and conduct commercial drone package delivery in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo and El Paso. The proposed action would allow up to 220 Chargers, 4,400 Dropboxes and 220,000 deliveries a day across those metros, with a 30-day public comment period beginning that Friday.
Cote d'Ivoire Council of Ministers advances 10-center medical PPP
On September 9, 2026, Cote d'Ivoire's Council of Ministers adopted a communication on a public-private partnership signed in December 2025 with Zipline SARL to build and operate 10 drone centers for medical products, strategic inputs and blood. Phase 1 is 27 months and covers the Daloa pilot plus Biankouma, San Pedro and Kouto; phase 2 adds six centers in Abidjan and the Indenie-Djuablin, Gbeke, Kabadougou, Belier and Gontougo regions. A U.S. grant would fund infrastructure while the Ivorian state pays for operating services.
Houston Highway 6 parachute landing
On the morning of September 4, 2026, a Zipline food-delivery drone came down in the southbound lanes of Highway 6 near Timber Creek Place Lane in northwest Harris County. Zipline said no one was hurt and no property was damaged; local law enforcement told KPRC 2 they received no calls. A photo shared with the station showed the electric drone in the roadway with its parachute deployed after what the company called a midflight issue on the way to pick up an order.
Uber invests and partners to bring drone delivery to Uber Eats nationwide
Uber and Zipline announced a partnership on August 17, 2026 to bring autonomous drone delivery to Uber Eats customers across the United States, with Uber making a strategic investment in Zipline. First deployments begin in Dallas and Houston by the end of the year within Zipline's existing US markets before expanding to dozens more cities, with the companies targeting 1 million drone deliveries a day by the end of 2029 and delivery times of 5 to 10 minutes.
South San Francisco factory reaches 24,000-aircraft annual capacity
Alongside its July 2026 leadership hires, Zipline confirms its tripled South San Francisco manufacturing facility now has the capacity to build 24,000 autonomous aircraft a year, exceeding the 15,000-aircraft target set when the expansion was announced in September 2025.
Austin and Cleveland go live; U.S. marketplace grows 13x in H1
On July 15, 2026, Zipline says the number of businesses offering delivery through its app grew 13x in the first half of 2026, with lifetime deliveries past 2.5 million (one million in the prior year alone). It launches consumer service in Austin and a home prescription-delivery partnership with Cleveland Clinic - its first healthcare home-delivery service - and hires executives from Tesla, Waymo, and Uber, including former Tesla finance VP Sendil Palani as CFO. CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton says he expects the U.S. business to grow 15x over 2026.
Selected to build Tampa Bay's first medical drone network
In July 2026, BayCare selects Zipline to build the Tampa Bay area's first healthcare drone-delivery network - Zipline's first Florida deployment - to move prescriptions, lab samples, and critical medical supplies. Service is slated to begin in late 2027 in Pinellas County before expanding into Hillsborough.
2026
Adds Austin and partners with Wonder in Texas
In late June 2026, Zipline names Austin its third Texas metro (after Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston), with operations expected in summer or fall 2026, and announces a partnership with food-technology platform Wonder to bring on-demand drone meal delivery to 100+ Wonder locations across Texas - starting in Dallas in January 2027. By this point Zipline has flown more than 135 million autonomous miles and completed over 2.5 million commercial deliveries worldwide.
North Texas network scales to 16+ brands and public-space delivery
By April 21, 2026, Zipline's North Texas network has grown to 16+ restaurant and retail brands in the DFW metroplex - including Popeyes, Hawaiian Bros, Taco Bueno, and local operators - and has expanded to more than 25 public delivery locations such as parks, UNT's campus, and the Rowlett Public Library. Flight volumes on its urban platform grew 50x in 2025 versus the prior year.
Advocate Health contracts for the nation's largest hospital drone network
Advocate Health announces a contract with Zipline to build what it calls the nation's largest hospital-based drone delivery network, moving prescriptions, lab samples, and medical supplies. At full scope the network is expected to carry out more than 100,000 deliveries a year across Charlotte, Chicago, and Milwaukee, with the first flights planned for 2027 in Charlotte and additional plans for Georgia.
Houston and Phoenix launch, $200M added to Series H
Zipline goes live in Houston (partnering with Memorial Hermann Health System) and Phoenix in early 2026. In March, it adds $200M to its Series H round - bringing the total to $800M - with Paradigm joining returning investors Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, and Tiger Global.
Rwanda expands toward nationwide and urban coverage
Rwanda signs a new expansion agreement covering nationwide autonomous logistics, a third distribution center in Karongi, Kigali deployment of Platform 2, and Zipline's first overseas AI and robotics testing hub.
Surpasses 2 million deliveries and raises $600M+
Crosses 2 million commercial deliveries, raises more than $600M at a $7.6B valuation, and announces Houston and Phoenix as the first two markets in a broader 2026 U.S. expansion.
2025
2022
2019
2016
Launches world's first national drone delivery service in Rwanda
Partners with the Government of Rwanda to launch the world's first national-scale drone delivery service, delivering blood, plasma, and medical supplies to remote clinics across the country. Drones launch from distribution centers and parachute packages to designated drop zones.
2014
09
$1.6Bdisclosed across 5 rounds with a stated amount
Cumulative disclosed raise · dated rounds
Series A–C
2014–2019
Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Katalyst Ventures
Series E
2021
Katalyst Ventures, Baillie Gifford, GV, Temasek, Goldman Sachs, The Rise Fund
Series F
2023
New and existing investors
Series H - Initial Tranche
January 2026
Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, Tiger Global
Series H - Additional Tranche
March 2026
$200M (total Series H: $800M at $7.6B valuation)
Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, Tiger Global, Paradigm
