Credit: CNET
Zipline, a drone delivery company, said in its latest filing that it had raised $330 million in a Series F fundraising round in April. This is noteworthy in a sector where few companies have been able to do so at such high valuations.
Zipline, a South San Francisco-based company, is seeking the money at a valuation that is a 55% increase from the $2.7 billion it was valued at two years ago.
The per-share price was $40.20 according to the April 10 Delaware filing, with a potential Series F-1 renewal of up to $20 million that might be added, allowing the total sum raised to change. At the time of publishing, no primary investor was specified or named.
According to reports, Zipline announced the additional financing in a statement and intends to utilise the money to grow its business, which will likely include starting an additional home delivery service.
Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Katalyst Ventures, GV, Pactolus Ventures, Emerging Capital Partners, and Reinvent Capital are a few previous investors who declined to comment on the situation. The financing comes as Zipline introduces Platform 2, a new autonomous drone with a 10-mile range and an eight-pound payload capacity. The firm has worked with Sweetgreen, Michigan Medicine, and a number of other health institutions.
With first deployments in Rwanda in 2016 and growth to Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Utah, Zipline has achieved success by concentrating on poor nations.
The drone delivery startup started making commercial deliveries in cooperation with Walmart in 2021 after receiving an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to deploy its drones for Covid-19 humanitarian supplies. However, FAA approval is still required for significant U.S. operations.
Later, the business received funding from companies like GV, the venture arm of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Andreessen Horowitz, Slow Ventures, Katalyst Ventures, and others. Its previous funding round in 2021 was led by Pactolus Ventures, Intercorp, Emerging Capital Partners, and Reinvent Capital. According to data from company tracker PitchBook, Zipline has since raised over $900 million with the additional capital.
