Zipline Funding Hits $1.5B as Walmart Adds 300 Drone Sites
Zipline raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion valuation to build a US drone delivery network, as Walmart signed on for 300 new delivery sites.
Hakkı ALKANPublished 2 min read
Zipline has raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation, and it will spend the money on factories and hiring for a nationwide US drone delivery network. The Zipline funding round, announced on November 5, came the same day Walmart agreed to add 300 Zipline delivery sites across the country.
According to the Zipline announcement, crypto investor Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global led the round. Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity, Uber, Tiger Global, J.P. Morgan, ARK Invest and Salesforce Ventures also took part.
How Big Is the New Zipline Funding Round?
The new valuation is almost three times what Zipline was worth in January. At that time, it raised more than $600 million at about $7.6 billion, according to Bloomberg. In other words, investors now see drone delivery as a real business rather than a pilot project.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Amount raised | $1.5 billion |
| Valuation | $21.5 billion post-money |
| Lead investors | Paradigm, WCM, Layer Global |
| Walmart deal | 300 new sites, up from 21 today |
| Uber goal | 1 million deliveries a day by 2029 |
What Does the Walmart Deal Change?
Walmart has worked with Zipline since 2021. Today, the two companies run 21 drone delivery sites in Texas and Arkansas, as TechCrunch reported. The new multi-year deal adds 300 sites and could grow further. Walmart says its drone program has passed 2 million deliveries, and it also works separately with Alphabet's Wing.
Zipline's drones carry packages of up to 8 pounds. The company says it made more than 1 million deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area this year. In October, its median order arrived 19 minutes after checkout, compared with 30 minutes or more by road.
Where Does Uber Fit In?
Uber became a Zipline partner in August and is now also an investor. The two companies are targeting 1 million drone deliveries a day by 2029. That fits Uber's wider push into automated delivery and rides, including its Waymo partnership and its food delivery tie-up through the Amazon Uber Eats deal.
Our Take
The money is the headline, but the factory is the real story. Zipline already says its plant near San Francisco International Airport can build up to 20,000 aircraft a year, and 1 million daily orders will need far more. However, scaling up brings safety and noise questions, as ground robots have already shown with incidents like the Tallinn delivery robot crash. Therefore, the next test is whether regulators and neighbors accept thousands of drones overhead.