Despite previously being denied to operate at home in the United States, Rwanda saw an opportunity in Zipline which later set up in the East African state, today the company’s value has tripled.
The partnership made Rwanda the first country to operate Zipline’s national autonomous delivery service.
Zipline maintained it’s headquarters in the US, manufactured it’s drones from home but operated them 11,600 km far away in Rwanda. It later expanded into Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire.
Taarifa Business Desk has established that Zipline services success in Africa could add value and complement services providers back home in US.
Zipline is moving from primarily delivering medical products to transporting food, retail goods and other consumer purchases.
This adjustment has triggered interest from American companies including; Walmart, Uber, JPMorgan, Fidelity, Tiger Global and Salesforce Ventures.
In the latest round of valuation led by Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global, Zipline raised U$1.5 billion at a U$21.5 billion.
Uber, JPMorgan, Fidelity Management & Research, Tiger Global, ARK Invest and Salesforce Ventures participated in the latest round of valuation.
Zipline success story in Rwanda
In October 2016, this American drone-delivery company made it’s first commercial delivery in largely hilly Rwanda, transporting blood and other essential medical products to hospitals that could be difficult to reach quickly by road.
In February 2026, Rwanda expanded the partnership, aiming to become the first country with nationwide autonomous logistics coverage and Africa’s first urban drone-delivery network.
With it’s successes in Rwanda, Walmart and Zipline have agreed to add 300 drone-delivery sites across the United States under an expanded multiyear partnership.
The two companies currently operate from a much smaller number of locations.
Uber also invested in the funding round after agreeing to introduce Zipline’s autonomous delivery service to Uber Eats customers.
According to Zipline, the ride-hailing company is targeting one million Zipline-supported deliveries daily by 2029.
