AAA Zipline zooms to $25m

Zipline zooms to $25m

Zipline, the US-based drone maker backed by internet conglomerate Alphabet’s early-stage investment arm, GV, has closed a $25m series B round, VentureBeat reported yesterday.

The round was led by venture capital firm Visionnaire Ventures and included fellow VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.

Founded in 2011, Zipline produces autonomous drones that deliver drugs, vaccines and blood on demand to health professionals in remote areas.

The company formed a partnership with the government of Rwanda last month that will involve it making up to 150 flights per day to deliver blood to 21 transfusion clinics.

Zipline has also agreed partnerships with logistics firm UPS and public-private health partnership Gavi to also deliver medicines and vaccines. It hopes to begin deliveries in the US within the next six months and to expand further across Africa.

The round took Zipline’s total funding to approximately $43m. It originally launched as the creator of a toy robot under the name Romotive, and was backed by Stanford University’s endowment fund, Lerer Ventures and angel investors including Paul Allen and Jerry Yang.

The company then decided to shift gears and in April 2016 re-emerged in its current incarnation, revealing that it had raised a total of $18m, including the cash secured before its pivot.

GV was revealed as an investor in April, and records provided by deals database Pitchbook show the unit participated in a $12m funding round in 2014 alongside Felicis Ventures, Klein Venture Partners, Morado Venture Partners, Subtraction Capital, Sequoia Capital, Stanford and various private investors.

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