Zipline surpasses 2M drone deliveries, bags $600M from Tiger Global and others at $7.6B valuation
- ByStartupStory | January 23, 2026
Cities in the US are facing delivery challenges due to traffic congestion, slow last-mile delivery, and rising emissions from delivery vans. As people demand faster delivery for food, retail, and healthcare, the old logistics system is struggling to keep up. This situation is opening up opportunities for new solutions.
Here’s where Zipline’s betting on autonomous drones becomes significant. The US-based robotics company, which has now crossed two million commercial deliveries, raised more than $600 million and reached a $7.6 billion valuation.
The funding round includes backing from Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, and Tiger Global.
Autonomous delivery service
Led by Keller Cliffton, Zipline is an autonomous delivery service that delivers food, retail products, and medical supplies directly to homes using autonomous aircraft. In Houston and Phoenix, eligible customers will soon be able to order tens of thousands of items through the Zipline app, with deliveries arriving in as little as 10 minutes.
At present, the company operates in four continents, making a delivery somewhere in the world every 30 seconds, and serves more than 5,000 hospitals and health facilities.
Zipline says deliveries have increased by around 15% week over week for the past seven months. As more locations come online, on-demand drone delivery is moving quickly from early adoption to everyday use.
Speed is one of Zipline’s biggest advantages. The company says its median flight time is three minutes. New delivery sites are also scaling faster than before. Zipline’s first location in Dallas took 10 weeks to reach 100 deliveries per day. New sites are now hitting that number in just two days.
What’s next?
The US company plans to use the funds to expand into at least four new US states this year, with Houston and Phoenix being the first stops.
Zipline also says it has now completed more deliveries than all other companies in the sector combined. Its zero-emission aircraft have flown over 125 million autonomous miles, delivered more than 20 million items, and done so without a serious injury.
As delivery demand keeps rising and cities seek cleaner, faster options, Zipline is positioning autonomous drones as a practical fix for a problem that is only getting bigger. Alongside the funding, Zipline said it will expand operations to Houston and Phoenix in early 2026, with more US cities to follow later this year.
“Autonomous logistics has been maturing for more than a decade, and the last year has made it unmistakably clear that when deliveries are faster, cleaner, safer, and cheaper, demand isn’t just high, it grows exponentially,” says Keller Cliffton, CEO and co-founder of Zipline. “In 2026 autonomous logistics will become an everyday staple for people across several states in the U.S. That transformation starts with Houston and my home town of Phoenix, which we’ll begin serving early this year, and then expand to even more places across the country throughout the year.”
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