Zipline raises $25 million to deliver medical supplies by drone

Friday, November 11, 2016

Zipline International Inc. has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round to expand its humanitarian delivery drone business in Rwanda, the U.S. and beyond. The startup builds drones and runs delivery services, dropping crucial medical supplies to clinics or hospitals in areas that aren’t accessible by land.

Recently, TechCrunch visited Zipline’s headquarters in Half Moon Bay, California for a behind the scenes look at the company’s fixed-wing drones, launchers and unique landing rigs.

Visionnaire Ventures led the Series B in Zipline joined by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Subtraction Capital and Jerry Yang said CEO and cofounder Keller Rinaudo. The funding brings the company’s total capital raised to $43 million to-date.

Rinaudo said, “We have instant delivery of dinner from companies like Doordash, or groceries from Instacart, so we thought we can do this for medical products.”

Zipline recently began a national program to deliver blood on-demand in Rwanda to clinics serving 6 million people there already.

Source: Tech Crunch (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care, Technology