Zipline, a US-based medical consumables logistics service backed by internet technology group Alphabet, secured $250m from investors including financial services and investment group Fidelity yesterday.
Baillie Gifford, Emerging Capital Partners, Intercorp, Katalyst Ventures, Reinvent Capital and Temasek filled out the participants in the round, with the cash secured at a $2.75bn valuation.
Founded in 2014, Zipline operates a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles which carry out on-demand deliveries of medical supplies including vaccines, blood products and medicines in rural areas.
The cash will be used to improve Zipline’s services, technology, drones, delivery systems and operations. The company, which has distribution centres in Ghana and Rwanda, intends to expand into additional sectors such as commerce and explore new markets.
Zipline received $120m in series D funding in mid-2019 from Baillie Gifford and The Rise Fund, a vehicle for private equity group TPG, valuing it at $1.2bn.
The series D round was revealed alongside a $70m series C completed the year before featuring GV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of Alphabet, in addition to investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, Baillie Gifford, Katalyst Ventures and Temasek.
Zipline had previously raised $233m in total. Its $25m series B round was led by Visionnaire Ventures and backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital in 2016.
GV had participated in a $12m round for the company in 2014, investing alongside Felicis Ventures, Klein Venture Partners, Morado Venture Partners, Subtraction Capital, Sequoia Capital, Stanford University’s endowment fund and multiple individuals. Lerer Ventures, Paul Allen and Jerry Yang are among its earlier investors.
