Zipline raises $1.5B at $21.5B valuation and signs largest autonomous vehicle contract with Walmart

Zipline says its US flight volumes grew roughly 100x over 18 months after launching at scale last year, now exceeding a million deliveries per year per metro, with expansion planned toward millions per day. The company claims over 150 million commercial autonomous miles with no safety incidents and says its drones are six times quieter than the nearest competitor, delivering from 330 feet. The $1.5B round was led by Paradigm, WCM, and Layer. The Walmart deal—described as the largest autonomous vehicle contract in history—starts with scaling to 300 supercenters. The author also recounts near-failure two years ago and an African network he says saves over 14,000 lives yearly and reduced maternal mortality 51%.

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