Autonomous drone delivery startup Zipline Inc. today announced that it had raised $250 million in new funding to help it accelerate development of a new model for instant logistics.

The Series E round was raised at a valuation of $2.75 billion. Investors included Fidelity, Intercorp, Emerging Capital Partners, Reinvent Capital, Baillie Gifford, Temasek and Katalyst Ventures.

Founded in 2011, Zipline designs, manufactures and operates autonomous drones that deliver vital medical products to remote areas. The company’s drone service is best known for its urgent medical product delivery services in remote parts of Africa, particularly Rwanda, although the company also operates in Ghana and Nigeria as well.

Zipline’s custom-built drones can deliver packages weighing up to about 3.3 pounds across distances of nearly 100 miles, all while traveling at up to 62 miles per hour. While Amazon.com Inc. and others focus on the potential for drones to deliver commercial services, Zipline has been primarily focused on humanitarian needs from the outset.

As noted when it raised venture capital in 2016, Zipline goes where roads are not available. In Rwanda, many roads are impassible during the country’s wet season. Zipline’s drones cater to an essential need: hospitals that find it challenging to restock their supplies of blood and medicine during wet season.

The company’s activities are not limited to Africa. In March, Zipline signed a partnership with Toyota Tshuou Corp. to enable healthcare access for people and communities across Japan, including the country’s most remote areas. Japan is a country many would not think of as having issues with medical supplies, but there are isolated parts of Japan that are not always well-connected.

Zipline also has a deal with Walmart Inc. to bring on-demand delivery of health and wellness products to the U.S. The partnership was signed in September with trial deliveries in Northwest Arkansas.

Zipline has also partnered with Pfizer to deliver COVID-19 vaccines in countries where it operates. The company has now surpassed 10 million miles of autonomous drone deliveries, 2 million vaccine doses distributed and more than 50,000 commercial deliveries completed.

Zipline said in a press release that the funding will also fuel its “continued expansion into new industries and geographies, transforming systems like healthcare and commerce with instant logistics and strengthen our support of local communities and the partners we work with.”

Including the new funding, Zipline has raised $488 million in venture capital funding, according to data from Crunchbase.

Photo: Zipline