Key Takeaways
- Zipline $1.5 billion raise: Zipline raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation on Nov. 5, 2026.
- Walmart deal: Walmart and Zipline are working to launch 300 additional Zipline sites under a new national multi-year agreement, about 4.5 times the 66 stores in Walmart's whole drone program in May.
- Valuation jump: The price is 2.8 times Zipline's $7.6 billion January valuation, up $13.9 billion in about ten months.
- Health record: The 51% cut in maternal mortality that CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton cited comes from a Rwanda study of hospital deaths from postpartum hemorrhage.
Zipline, the drone delivery company, said on Nov. 5, 2026, that it raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation in a round led by Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global. Walmart also signed a national multi-year agreement to launch 300 additional Zipline sites, the company said.
Zipline's $1.5 Billion Round: Investors, Valuation and Uber
Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Uber, Tiger Global, J.P. Morgan, ARK Invest and Salesforce Ventures also joined the round, according to Zipline's announcement. The money goes to U.S. manufacturing and hiring for what Zipline calls a nationwide drone delivery network, DroneXL reported.
The price is 2.8 times the $7.6 billion valuation Zipline carried in January, when it raised more than $600 million. "Zipline is now one of the largest autonomous robotics companies in the world," Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner of Paradigm, said in the release.
Uber is both an investor and a customer, targeting one million deliveries a day with Zipline by 2029, the release says. WYDE reported in March on Zipline's $7.6 billion valuation and 2 million deliveries.
Walmart's 300 Zipline Sites Against Its Drone Program Today
Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Zipline's co-founder and CEO, wrote in a post on X that Walmart is Zipline's first and biggest U.S. partner. "We’re starting by scaling to 300 supercenters throughout the country," Rinaudo Cliffton wrote. Zipline did not give a value, a timeline or locations for the 300 sites.
The 300 sites would be about 4.5 times the 66 stores in Walmart's whole drone program in May, according to DroneXL. Wing, Walmart's other drone partner, holds a contract for more than 270 locations by 2027. Until now, Zipline's Walmart business has been one metro and one Arkansas hub. Zipline says it has made more than one million deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in 2026.
What Zipline's 51% Maternal Mortality Figure Measures
Zipline began in Rwanda in 2016, dropping blood by parachute to rural hospitals. "When we started Zipline, flying autonomously in the US was illegal," Rinaudo Cliffton wrote. His post says Zipline spent eight years expanding across Africa, serving thousands of hospitals and health facilities and reducing maternal mortality by 51%.
The 51% comes from a peer-reviewed study that Wharton School researchers and Rwandan co-authors published in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. The authors are Harriet Jeon, Hummy Song, Claudio Lucarelli, Jean Baptiste Mazarati and Donatien Ngabo. The study measured in-hospital deaths among mothers with postpartum hemorrhage at hospitals the drones served, DroneXL reported, which is narrower than maternal mortality as a whole. The same paper found a 30% drop in in-hospital deaths among trauma patients, and drone-served hospitals cut the red blood cells they keep in stock by 63%.
The release says Zipline's long-range medical deliveries help save more than 14,000 lives each year across multiple continents. That figure is Zipline's own. In Côte d'Ivoire, Zipline is building a nationwide network expected to serve more than 2,200 health facilities and 12 million people.
Zipline's Valuation Rests on FAA Approval and a Safety Record
DroneXL editor-in-chief Haye Kesteloo wrote that Zipline is now hiring and building factories for a network the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not yet allowed. In September, DroneXL reported that the FAA's Part 108 rule was still unsigned, and Kesteloo wrote that it has not moved since.
Zipline says it has flown 150 million commercial autonomous miles without a safety incident. Two Zipline aircraft came down under parachute in Texas this summer, in Greenville on July 26 and near Houston in September, with nobody hurt, DroneXL reported.
People Also Ask
How much did Zipline raise in November 2026?
Zipline raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation, announced Nov. 5, 2026. Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global led the round, which values Zipline at 2.8 times its $7.6 billion January valuation.
What is the Walmart and Zipline drone delivery deal?
Walmart and Zipline are working to launch 300 additional Zipline drone delivery sites under a new national multi-year agreement with potential to grow further. Zipline did not disclose the value of the Walmart agreement or when the 300 sites will open.
Did Zipline cut maternal mortality in Rwanda by 51%?
The 51% figure Zipline cites comes from a peer-reviewed study of in-hospital deaths among mothers with postpartum hemorrhage at Rwandan hospitals that Zipline's drones served. The study does not measure maternal mortality across all of Rwanda.
Sources: Zipline, DroneXL, Keller Rinaudo Cliffton on X, DroneXL, DroneXL.