US drone-delivery company Zipline announced on Thursday, 5 November 2026, that it had raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation. Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global led the funding round.
The fresh capital is intended primarily for expanding Zipline’s US manufacturing capacity, hiring staff and building a nationwide autonomous delivery network. The plan includes a multi-year agreement with Walmart to launch 300 additional sites. Uber, which also invested in Zipline, is working with the company on order deliveries and is targeting one million daily deliveries by 2029.
Other participants named by Zipline include Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Tiger Global, JPMorgan, ARK Invest and Salesforce Ventures, alongside Uber. Reuters reported that the company’s latest valuation was nearly three times the $7.6 billion figure attached to a $600 million funding round earlier this year.
An African medical-logistics footprint
The transaction also involves a company with an established presence in African healthcare logistics. Zipline began delivering medical supplies in Rwanda in 2016 before expanding into additional countries and other delivery services. In Côte d’Ivoire, the company says it is building a nationwide network designed to reach more than 2,200 health facilities and 12 million people.
In Rwanda, Zipline and the government signed an expansion agreement on 4 February 2026 covering a third logistics hub in Karongi, urban deliveries in Kigali and an AI and robotics testing facility. That initiative forms part of a separate partnership, while the November funding round is primarily directed at the company’s US rollout.