Drone delivery company Zipline International Inc. has scored a big new round of funding.
The South San Francisco company closed a $330 million Series F round last month, Forbes reported Friday. The investment came with a $4.2 billion valuation, according to Forbes.
Zipline spokeswoman Danielle Meister confirmed the new round but not the amount, date or new valuation. The company, which has developed its own delivery drones and uses them to offer delivery services in parts of the United States and other countries, plans to use the funds to launch a new home delivery operation, Meister said in an emailed statement.
"We look forward to continuing to build the world's first logistics system that serves all humans equally and brings faster and more environmentally friendly delivery to anyone, anywhere," she said.
Zipline's new round follows its announcement last month of its second-generation drone delivery system. Dubbed Platform 2, or P2, the system combines a quadrotor autonomous aircraft with a docked droid it deploys to make deliveries. The P2 Zip can carry up to eight pounds worth of cargo within a ten-mile radius.
The company's first drone, the fixed-wing P1, can deliver up to five pounds within a 60-mile radius. Unlike the P2, the P1 delivers its cargo via a parachute system.
Meister declined to say who invested in Zipline's new round, only that the deal included both previous and new investors. The startup's prior backers include Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Katalyst Ventures, GV, Pactolus Ventures, Emerging Capital Partners and Reinvent Capital.
"It’s pretty clear that there is going to be a massive transformation in instant delivery over the next 10 years towards automation and zero emission logistics," GV's Andy Wheeler said in an emailed statement. "Zipline is at the forefront of that revolution and is poised to lead."
Here's more Bay Area funding and startup news at the beginning of the week:
Funding rounds
- Amorai Corp., San Francisco, Undisclosed, Pre-Seed: AI Fund led the round for this developer of an app designed to coach young people on their interpersonal relationships that was founded by former Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg. Megan Jones Bell, Jim Lanzone, Eileen Burbidge, André Heinz, Peter Rojas, Balance Pilot Capital, and Joe Zadeh also invested. As part of the investment, AI Fund general partner Andrew Ng joined the company's board.
Funders in the news
- Patient Square Capital launched Elevage Medical Technologies with $300 million. Evan Melrose, M.D, formerly the founding managing director of Spindletop Capital will be CEO of Elevage, which will invest in growth-stage medical device companies. Patient Square is a Menlo Park-based private equity firm.
- Mitsubishi Corp., MUFG bank and others have announced the launch a $1 billion decarbonization fund. The fund will invest primarily in U.S. and European startups in the green and sustainability sectors with the aim of spurring collaboration between them and their counterparts in Asia.
If you have funding or venture capital news, please let us know at svbjnews@bizjournals.com.
