Zipline says the financing values it at $21.5 billion after investment, up from $7.6 billion earlier in 2026. Walmart and Zipline plan 300 additional US delivery sites under a multiyear agreement.
Zipline, a California-based drone-delivery company, announced on 5 November that it raised $1.5 billion at a valuation of $21.5 billion after the new investment. It was valued at $7.6 billion in a funding round earlier this year.
Walmart and Zipline already have 21 active drone-delivery sites together, following an agreement that dates to 2021. Their new multiyear deal calls for 300 additional sites across the US, but no states or opening date for the first site have been announced.
Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global led the round. Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Uber, Tiger Global, J.P. Morgan, ARK Invest and Salesforce Ventures also participated.
Zipline plans to use the money to expand its US manufacturing facilities and hire more workers as it builds a nationwide delivery network. Layer Global founder and managing partner Anton Levy said the opportunity was to reach millions more people and that Zipline’s partnerships and approach to entering markets positioned it to make drone delivery mainstream.
Zipline develops autonomous delivery drones along with launch and landing systems and logistics software. Founded in 2014, it began by delivering blood in Rwanda and later expanded to Ghana and Nigeria. It started US operations in 2020, delivering medical equipment and supplies to Novant Health in North Carolina.
In 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration gave Zipline Part 135 air-carrier certification, authorizing long-range commercial drone deliveries. Its Platform 2 home-delivery drones are designed to carry up to eight pounds within a 10-mile radius. Zipline said its median order in October arrived 19 minutes after checkout.
The food technology company has begun the process of going public after a July funding round valued it at $9 billion before the investment.
A proposed federal rule known as Part 108, intended to make flights beyond a pilot’s visual line of sight routine rather than subject to individual waivers, remained under White House regulatory review on 5 November, DroneXL said. Zipline currently operates under Part 135 approvals.
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