46. Zipline

CNBC

2 days ago

Founders: Keller Rinaudo Cliffton (CEO), Keenan Wyrobek, Ryan OksenhornLaunched: 2014Headquarters: South San FranciscoFunding: $500 millionValuation: $5.1 billion (PitchBook)Key Technologies: Artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, machine learning, roboticsIndustry: LogisticsPrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 6 (No. 21 in 2024)
For many sci-fi fans, the word "teleportation" evokes Star Trek visions, but drone delivery company Zipline says that millions of Americans are going to be getting used to a version of it that may be as close to the concept as they ever see: pushing a button and having a drone deliver what they want through the skies and down to their home in minutes.
Zipline, which began over a decade ago and first made critical medical deliveries like blood bags over rugged terrain and with the mission of supplying hard to reach places, has now made more deliveries than all of its competitors, a group that includes two of the largest tech companies in the world that have been dabbling in drones for a long time, Amazon (Amazon Prime Air) and Alphabet (Google's Wing).
While there were doubts in the early days about whether the models would evolve beyond niche use cases, recent years have seen an increasing number of drone deliveries and approvals from regulators. It is not now unreasonable to envision the drone company and its peers as competitors to a wide range of companies, from Uber Eats and DoorDash to UPS, FedEx and Amazon itself.
Zipline is the first company to have made one million commercial drone deliveries, 70% of which it says occurred in 2023 and 2024. Zipline estimates it is now making one delivery every 60 seconds and has logged over 100 million commercial autonomous miles in the skies. That last flight metric made it, according to the company, the "largest autonomous logistics network on Earth."
To help put all the drone trips into perspective, Zipline offered a few comparison travel points: 200 lunar round trips, 4,000 journeys around the Earth, or racking up every road in the U.S. 24 times.
Last July, Zipline received the FAA's first-ever approval of an uncrewed aircraft systems traffic management system (UTM), like an air traffic control system for drones flying beyond the visual line of sight, and a critical step for drone delivery expansion.
Overseas, where Zipline had some of its earliest successes, it continues to expand as well, including key, critical medical partnerships in countries such as Nigeria, where it has been delivering HIV medicines. The company says throughout its history its drones have delivered roughly 20 million vaccines.
In the U.S., Zipline has tripled its customers, and increased the number of states and areas it serves. Health-care systems, retailers, restaurants, businesses and governments are all using Zipline drones, from Panera Bread to the Mayo Clinic. While health care has historically been the biggest use case, food is going to be responsible for a lot more growth in the future, according to the company, including partners such as Sweetgreen and Chipotle.
In January, Zipline launched its P2 drones — which can fly as far as 24 miles, up to 70 mph, and carry up to eight pounds — in a state associated with a well-know retailer: Arkansas. It was able to deliver more than 28,000 items from the local Walmart to customers and recently expanded operations to Dallas. Walmart told CNBC in an email in April that it had completed over 150,000 drone deliveries to homes since 2021, and with 4,600 stores located within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population, it is "uniquely positioned to execute drone deliveries at scale."
Just last week, Walmart said it was expanding its drone deliveries to three more states in a deal with Zipline rival Wing.
The drone delivery business is still relatively small within the transportation sector, and its growth has been uneven over the past decade. But with billions of deliveries in the U.S. alone reliant on century-old climate-intense logistics infrastructure, the tailwinds are there if the technology continues to improve and the economic model continues to scale: faster, potentially lower cost, and zero emissions.
Kieran Shanahan, chief operating officer of Walmart U.S., told CNBC last week, "We see it as part of a broader ecosystem of things. And who knows what five years, 10 years time will bring as new technologies and capabilities unlock?"
Zipline CEO and co-founder Keller Rinaudo Cliffton recently told the Wall Street Journal "Bold Names" podcast he is focused on the next few years: "It took us eight years to do a million deliveries ... Two and a half years from now we need to be doing a million deliveries a day."