Zipline raises $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion valuation to build a nationwide drone delivery network

Zipline said on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, that it raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation, led by Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global, to expand U.S. manufacturing, hire and build a nationwide drone delivery network.

Drone delivery spent a decade as a demo that always seemed two years away. Zipline is now posting real numbers: a million deliveries in one metro, 19-minute median orders, and Walmart and Uber signing up for more. Nearly tripling the valuation says investors think the hard part is over. The next hard part is whether neighbors in 300 more places are fine with lunch arriving overhead.

Zipline raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation. Post-money means the price after the new cash is counted in. Paradigm, WCM Investment Management, and Layer Global led. Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Uber, Tiger Global, J.P. Morgan, ARK Invest, and Salesforce Ventures took part. Those lines are Zipline's.

Reuters has reported that Zipline was previously valued at $7.6 billion. That earlier figure comes from Reuters.

Zipline says the money goes to expanding manufacturing in the United States, hiring, and building a nationwide drone delivery network. Those lines are Zipline's.

Walmart and Zipline will launch 300 additional sites under a new national agreement that runs for multiple years, and the companies say it could grow further. Uber is targeting one million deliveries a day with Zipline by 2029. A target is a goal, not a count of deliveries already made. Those lines are Zipline's.

Zipline made more than one million deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area alone this year. In October, the median order arrived 19 minutes after checkout, compared with more than 30 minutes for traditional delivery. The median bakery order arrived in 10 minutes. A median is the middle case, so half the orders were faster and half were slower. Those figures are Zipline's.

A cohort of Zipline's longest-tenured restaurants saw Zipline's share of their delivery revenue grow from 10.8% to 34.9% between March and October. Delivery GMV rose 26%, and 80% of that increase came from Zipline orders. A cohort, here, is that group of restaurants, not every kitchen on the network. GMV, gross merchandise value, is the dollar value of the orders. Those figures are the company's.

Zipline says it has flown 150 million commercial autonomous miles without a safety incident. It is also building a nationwide network in Côte d'Ivoire that it expects to serve more than 2,200 health facilities and 12 million people. Those lines are Zipline's.

Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner of Paradigm, said: "Zipline is now one of the largest autonomous robotics companies in the world." Anton Levy, founder and managing partner of Layer Global, said: "With partners like Uber and Walmart and a repeatable model for entering new markets, Zipline is well positioned to make drone delivery a mainstream part of everyday life." Those quotations are theirs.

The picture is a white Zipline delivery drone hovering above a green house's front yard, lowering on a tether line, while a woman and three children on the lawn react and a Zipline box sits on the grass. The credit is Zipline.

In plain terms, Zipline raised $1.5 billion, and the round prices the company at $21.5 billion once that money is in. Walmart is adding 300 sites. Uber's goal is a million drone deliveries a day by 2029. In Dallas-Fort Worth, Zipline says it already passed a million deliveries this year, and a typical October order arrived in 19 minutes.