Founder: Keller Linaud (CEO), Keenan Virobeck
Release: 2014
Headquarters: San Francisco
Funds: $ 486 million
evaluation: $ 2.5 billion
Key technology: Self-driving car, robotics
industry: logistics
Previous appearance on the Disruptor 50 list: 3 (No.7 2020)
Zipline, a California-based drone delivery company, aims to transform the way important medical supplies are delivered.
Since its establishment in 2014, the company has been established in Ghana and Rwanda, supporting the domestic blood supply network and the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine, respectively. In March, the company announced that it had supported the Ministry of Health of Ghana. Providing 1 million vaccinesEfforts to not only reduce the out-of-stock vaccines, but also increase the types of medicines and consumables available in medical facilities by 10%.
After raising $ 250 million in new funding in June and valuing it to $ 2.5 billion, Zipline has expanded further into new industries and regions, such as the United States, and even commerce.
Last November, Zipline was the first to deliver something directly to a consumer’s home as part of a partnership with. Walmart.. In the Pea Ridge area of Arkansas, residents can order a variety of health products online. Delivered by Zipline’s autonomous aircraft On the same day.
Built behind Pea Ridge’s Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, the 25-foot platform will serve as a takeoff and landing hub for autonomously operating Zipline 11-foot wide fixed-wing drones. When a customer orders a product through the Zipline app, a Wal-Mart employee selects the product, packs it, and hands it to Zipline staff. The drone is then loaded and fired, and the product is unloaded into a cardboard box supported by a paper parachute.
The company has also entered Japan in partnership with Toyota Tsusho to provide medicines to pharmacies and hospitals in remote and isolated areas.
Drone delivery has become a hot topic as businesses are reaching the point of near-instant e-commerce shopping. Also, traffic, lack of available drivers, gas prices.
In addition, FAA seems to have begun to warm up to that idea. In February, the FAA announced that it would begin testing air traffic control systems for unmanned aerial vehicles that stay below 400 feet this spring, based on previously announced plans that could enable drone delivery across the United States. bottom.
Zipline co-founder and CEO Keller Rinaudo said in a statement announcing the start of the partnership: “Impact logistics will impact the immediate availability of important and even life-saving products. I saw it in person. ” With Wal-Mart. “By working with Wal-Mart, we can bring this type of service to northwestern Arkansas and show what the future of access to health looks like.”
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