Skip to content
Drone news desk
CommercialIndustry2 min read

Zipline raises $1.5 billion and signs a Walmart deal for 300 more drone delivery sites, locations undisclosed

Zipline says the money will expand U.S. manufacturing and hiring. A new multi-year Walmart agreement covers 300 additional sites. The Shelby Report says the locations were not disclosed.

By

More onDrone delivery

Zipline delivery aircraft
Zipline delivery aircraft. Image: Zipline

Decision brief

This is a plan, not a service map. Zipline's release gives no launch cities or dates for the 300 sites. To check an address, The Shelby Report says drone delivery shows as an option in the Walmart app or on Walmart.com when the address is within delivery range.

Raise
$1.5 billion

At a $21.5 billion post-money valuation, per Zipline

Walmart sites
300 additional

New national multi-year agreement; locations not disclosed, per The Shelby Report

Prior valuation
$7.6 billion

After a $600 million raise earlier this year, per Reuters

The money

A $1.5 billion round for factories and hiring.

Zipline announced on November 5 that it raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation. Paradigm, WCM Investment Management, and Layer Global led the round, the company said, and Uber, Fidelity, and J.P. Morgan were among the other investors. Zipline says it will use the money to expand its U.S. manufacturing facilities and ramp hiring as it builds a nationwide delivery network. Reuters reported the company was valued at $7.6 billion after raising $600 million earlier this year.

The Walmart deal

300 more sites, with no list yet.

The same release says Walmart and Zipline are "now working together to launch 300 additional sites" under a new national multi-year agreement "with potential to grow further." The Shelby Report says Walmart has worked with Zipline on drone deliveries since 2021 and that the locations of the new sites were not disclosed. It also says more than 2 million deliveries have been completed to date, without saying whose.

Company figures

The numbers Zipline reports about itself.

The remaining numbers are Zipline's own. The company says Uber is targeting one million deliveries a day with Zipline by 2029. It says it has made more than one million deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area this year, and that its median October order arrived 19 minutes after checkout. It also claims 150 million commercial autonomous miles "without a safety incident."

The pushback

Noise and approvals are still in the way, Reuters says.

Reuters said regulatory approvals and community concerns over noise and safety remain barriers to wider drone delivery. Zipline's release says the company recently rolled out what it calls sound-optimized dynamic flying, and that its next-generation aircraft is designed to fly higher and quieter.

Continue on Drone Authority

Continue this beat

More commercial reporting

Follow commercial

Editorial standard. Claims are tied to the sources on this page. Material corrections are logged publicly and can be sent to corrections@droneauthority.org.

How the news desk works