Zipline raises $1.5 billion at $21.5 billion valuation as Walmart signs for 300 more drone sites
Drone delivery company Zipline announced on Thursday that a new funding round brought in $1.5 billion and puts its worth at $21.5 billion after the investment. The company also said Walmart has agreed to a national, multi-year deal to open 300 more Zipline delivery sites.
Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global led the round. Uber, Fidelity, Valor Equity Partners, Tiger Global, J.P. Morgan, ARK Invest and Salesforce Ventures also took part, according to the reports. The money is meant for U.S. manufacturing, hiring and delivery infrastructure.
Sharp rise in valuation
Zipline disclosed in January that it had secured over $600 million at a valuation of $7.6 billion. DroneXL reported the new price is 2.8 times that figure and above the $20 billion that Bloomberg reported when talks surfaced in September. DroneXL also reported that Zipline added a $200 million extension in March.
Uber, which is both an investor and a customer, and Zipline are targeting one million drone deliveries a day by the end of 2029, DRONELIFE reported. Zipline's service is to be integrated into Uber Eats, starting in existing markets.
“Zipline is now one of the largest autonomous robotics companies in the world,”
Company-reported results
Zipline said it has completed over one million deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area during 2026, with a median October delivery time of 19 minutes from checkout. It also reported 150 million commercial autonomous miles flown without a safety incident.
The company said that among a group of established restaurant partners, its share of delivery revenue rose from 10.8% in March to 34.9% in October. Those restaurants saw a 26% increase in delivery gross merchandise value, 80% of it from Zipline orders, the company said. Zipline says the orders were new business rather than diverted from other platforms. DroneXL noted the group was selected by Zipline and the release does not say how many restaurants it includes.
DroneXL also reported that two Zipline drones came down under parachute in Texas this summer and nobody was hurt. According to DroneXL, Zipline characterized the Houston incident as the parachute working as intended.
Local opposition and regulation
Zipline said it has introduced technology that adjusts flight operations to reduce noise, and that a next-generation aircraft is meant to carry heavier orders farther while flying higher and more quietly. DroneXL said the release gave no specifications or date for that aircraft.
Noise and zoning have become flashpoints. In Westborough, Massachusetts, Amazon withdrew its drone delivery application on October 30 after residents and officials raised concerns, and it plans to submit a revised proposal, DRONELIFE reported.
DroneXL reported that the FAA's proposed Part 108 rule, which would make beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights routine rather than approved case by case, was listed as pending at the White House regulatory office on November 5. Zipline currently flies under Part 135 approvals, DroneXL said.
