Zipline company profile: valuation, funding & revenue

This Zipline company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Zipline works in logistics, with a focus on autonomous drone delivery. It was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California, United States. Its latest valuation on record is US$7.6 billion (January 2026). Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.

Revenue

Funding history

Zipline timeline

Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.

• 2014 — Zipline is founded in South San Francisco by Keller Rinaudo Cliffton (CEO), Keenan Wyrobek and Will Hetzler.
• Mar 2026 — Extension: US$200M, valuing the company at US$7.6B. Investors: Paradigm (new) and others.
• Jan 2026 — Equity round: More than US$600M, valuing the company at US$7.6B. Investors: Valor Equity Partners (lead); Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Tiger Global.
• January 2026 — Deliveries: More than 2 million commercial deliveries and 125 million autonomous miles flown.
• January 2026 — Healthcare network: Serves more than 5,000 hospitals and health facilities.

Investors

Overview

Zipline delivers goods by autonomous drone. It began by flying blood, vaccines and medicines to hospitals and clinics in Rwanda and Ghana, where roads are slow and supplies were often short. It now also delivers food, groceries, retail products and prescriptions to homes in the United States, with drones lowering packages gently to a customer's doorstep or garden. It is one of the largest and longest-running drone delivery operations in the world.

Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, the CEO, founded Zipline in 2014 with Keenan Wyrobek and Will Hetzler. Rinaudo Cliffton previously co-founded a consumer robotics company. Zipline is based in South San Francisco and designs and builds its own aircraft, software and logistics systems.

How Zipline works

Zipline's first-generation system uses fixed-wing drones launched from a catapult at a central distribution centre. They fly long distances quickly and drop packages by parachute at a hospital or clinic, then return. Its newer home delivery system, often called Platform 2, uses a quieter drone that hovers high above a home and lowers a small delivery robot on a tether to place the package precisely. The drones dock at charging stations that can be attached to stores or restaurants, so orders are loaded and dispatched automatically. Zipline says median flight times are around three minutes and deliveries can arrive in as little as ten minutes.

Operations and scale

By January 2026, Zipline said it had made more than 2 million commercial deliveries, flown more than 125 million autonomous miles and delivered more than 20 million items, without serious injuries. It serves more than 5,000 hospitals and health facilities across four continents, and its US deliveries were growing roughly 15% a week. New US sites have ramped up much faster than early ones: its first Dallas-area site took ten weeks to reach 100 deliveries a day, while newer ones did so within days. It planned expansion to at least four new US states in 2026, starting with Houston and Phoenix. By later in 2026 it reported nearly 3 million deliveries.

Business model

In healthcare, Zipline typically works under contracts with national governments and health systems, charging for a delivery service rather than selling drones. In consumer delivery, it partners with retailers, restaurants and health systems, earning fees per delivery or through service contracts. It doesn't publish revenue, so we show it as not disclosed. The economics improve as volumes rise, because each drone and station can handle more deliveries.

Funding

• 2024: funding at a valuation of about US$5 billion.
• January 2026: more than US$600 million at a US$7.6 billion valuation, led by Valor Equity Partners, with Fidelity, Baillie Gifford and Tiger Global.
• March 2026: a US$200 million extension at the same valuation, with crypto investor Paradigm joining.

Total funding is about US$2 billion. In September 2026, reports said Paradigm was discussing leading a new round of around US$1 billion at a much higher valuation; those talks were early and not confirmed, so we use the US$7.6 billion figure.

Regulation

Drone delivery depends on aviation regulators allowing drones to fly beyond the operator's line of sight over populated areas. Zipline holds approvals from the US Federal Aviation Administration for such operations and has worked closely with regulators for years. In 2025 the FAA proposed broader rules for beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights, which would make it easier to scale. Regulatory approval in each new country or region remains a gating factor.

Competition

Zipline competes with Wing, owned by Alphabet, which partners with Walmart and DoorDash; Amazon Prime Air; Flytrex; DroneUp; and Manna in Europe. Each uses different aircraft and delivery approaches. Zipline's advantages are its long operating record, safety data, healthcare network and its precise tethered delivery system.

Zipline at a glance

Zipline is a South San Francisco drone delivery company founded in 2014 by Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Keenan Wyrobek and Will Hetzler. It delivers medical supplies in Africa and elsewhere, and food and retail goods in the US. It raised more than US$600 million at US$7.6 billion in January 2026, led by Valor Equity Partners, followed by a US$200 million extension, and had made more than 2 million commercial deliveries.

Why healthcare came first

Starting with medical deliveries in Rwanda was a deliberate choice. Blood and vaccines are urgent, valuable and light, so the benefit of fast delivery is large, and in regions with poor roads, drones can cut delivery times from hours to minutes. Government health ministries were willing customers, and the work built Zipline's operational experience and safety record long before consumer delivery was viable. Studies of its operations have reported reductions in blood product waste and faster treatment in emergencies, which helped it win contracts in more countries.

The economics of drone delivery

Delivering a small order by car costs money for the driver's time, fuel and vehicle, and much of that cost is fixed per trip regardless of the order's size. A drone delivery can be cheaper once a network is busy, because drones are automated, electric and fast, and one person can supervise many drones. The challenges are high upfront costs for aircraft and infrastructure, weight limits, weather, noise and public acceptance. Profitability depends on keeping each drone and station busy throughout the day.

Questions for retailers considering drone delivery

• What share of your orders are small and light enough to fly?
• How dense is demand around your stores?
• What are the per-delivery costs compared with drivers and courier apps?
• How will neighbours and local officials respond to drone traffic?

Next steps to watch

Watch new US states and retail partners, international healthcare contracts, FAA rule changes, any confirmed new funding round and the path to profitability.

Relevance

Retailers and restaurants can test drone delivery for small, urgent orders. Health systems can use it for lab samples and supplies between sites. Investors should watch delivery volumes per site as the key sign of whether the model scales economically.

Latest developments (October 2026)

Zipline raised more than US$600 million in January 2026 at US$7.6 billion and then extended the Series H to US$800 million with Paradigm in March, according to Pulse 2.0. It has passed two million commercial deliveries and is launching in Houston, Phoenix and Seattle. In September 2026 Bloomberg reported early talks to raise about US$1 billion at around US$20 billion, which has not been confirmed. See our drone companies guide.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.

1. Tech Funding News
2. Techbuzz