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<p>Zipline, the drone delivery service has hit the recapitalisation market raising more than $250 million in the process, but what for and why now? Israel Bimpe, Director for Africa at Zipline, Israel Bimpe joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Drone delivery service Zipline raises $250mn to fund expansion


<p>Report by Riley de Leon</p>



<p><strong>Key Points:</strong></p>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Zipline has begun delivering Covid-19 test samples via drone in Ghana’s two largest cities, Accra and Kumasi.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>It is the first time in history that autonomous drones have been used to make regular long-range deliveries into densely populated urban areas.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The start-up also has been working with the FAA to accelerate their launch of U.S. operations so it can distribute test kits and personal protective equipment via drone.</li></ul>



<p><a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/04/22/african-health-start-up-zipline-on-the-forefront-of-covid-19-fight/">Zipline</a>, the California-based drone-delivery start-up that delivers critical medical supplies in countries like <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/2020/04/20/ghana-lifts-lockdown-on-key-regions-as-covid-19-cases-reach-1042/">Ghana</a>, has begun delivering <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">Covid-19</a> test samples in the country’s two largest cities — Accra, the nation’s capital, and Kumasi, the country’s second-largest city.</p>



<p>The service began Friday, when 51 test samples were collected from patients at rural health facilities and transported to the company’s distribution center in Omenako, <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/04/20/moodys-changes-ghanas-outlook-to-negative-b3-rating-affirmed/">Ghana</a>. Over the course of four separate flights, the company delivered those 51 samples to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Accra for testing and analysis.</p>



<p>The company will also be delivering Covid-19 test samples collected at regional hospitals near its Mapong distribution center to the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research. The first such delivery took place on Saturday, April 18. The company said it expects to operate this new daily service for the duration of the government’s Covid-19 response efforts, marking the first time in history that autonomous drones have been used to make regular long-range deliveries into densely populated urban areas.</p>



<p>It is also the first time that drones have been used in this way to deliver Covid-19 test samples.&nbsp;The new delivery service allows the government to more closely monitor and respond to the spread of the disease in some of the countries most remote areas.</p>



<p>“Zipline is dedicated to helping Ghana in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” said CEO Keller Rinaudo. “Using contactless drone delivery to transport Covid-19 test samples will allow the government to respond to the pandemic and help save lives more quickly.”</p>



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<p>Since its launch in October 2016, the company’s autonomous drones have flown more than 2 million miles and delivered more than 60,000 vaccines, units of blood and other medical products in Ghana, <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/04/21/rwandas-tech-innovators-quick-to-fill-the-market-demand-gap-amid-covid-19/">Rwanda</a> and India.</p>



<p>Before the Covid-19 outbreak, Zipline planned to launch U.S. operations in the fall of 2020, delivering to health facilities and homes. As the outbreak has worsened, the company has been working with the FAA on the necessary approvals needed to operate commercially, and says that they could do so within weeks of receiving said approval. According to a company statement, their emergency efforts in the U.S. would focus on the distribution of scarce resources like test kits and personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves and masks, as well as Covid-19 vaccines once they become available.</p>



<p>Zipline ranked No. 39 on the 2019 Disruptor 50 list. The 2020 Disruptor 50 list will be revealed this June.</p>



<p>This article was first published on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/20/zipline-begins-drone-delivery-of-covid-19-test-samples-in-ghana.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/20/zipline-begins-drone-delivery-of-covid-19-test-samples-in-ghana.html</a> and is republished with its permission.</p>



<p>For more coverage on COVID-19 visit: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/</a></p>


Zipline launches drone delivery of COVID-19 test samples in Ghana

Zipline begins drone delivery of COVID-19 test samples in Ghana

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<p>Tech health start-ups have seen a jump in not only investor appetite but also in the ease of operation with many economies looking at them for go to solutions in the wake of the coronavirus. But how has this translated into business sense for them? Israel Bimpe, Head of National Implementation at Zipline joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


African health start-up Zipline on the forefront of COVID-19 fight


<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/105869402-15561208729911.dronedelivering.jpg?v=1558072365&amp;w=740&amp;h=416" alt="Zipline International 1"/></figure>



<p>Drone-delivery businesses cropped up all over the globe in recent years, but most focused on last-mile logistics for food and retail. The concept of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/08/google-and-chipotle-will-use-drones-to-send-burritos-to-college-students.html" class="">air dropping a burrito</a>&nbsp;to a hungry college co-ed is a fun one. But one drone-delivery business that has pulled ahead of the pack, Zipline, gained commercial traction by flying lifesaving medical supplies to thousands of rural clinics instead.</p>



<p>Now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/14/zipline-international-2019-disruptor-50.html" class="">Zipline</a>, which ranked No. 39 on the 2019&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/meet-the-2019-cnbc-disruptor-50-companies.html" class="">CNBC Disruptor 50 list</a>, has raised $190 million in venture funding and attained a $1.2 billion valuation from its investors. Its backers include Baillie Gifford, The Rise Fund (which is TPG’s global impact fund), Temasek,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=GOOGL" class="">Alphabet</a>’s investment arm GV and Katalyst Ventures. The funding brings Zipline’s total capital raised to $225 million.</p>



<p>CEO Keller Rinaudo, who co-founded Zipline with Keenan Wyrobek and William Hetzler in 2011, says that with the new funding, Zipline will be able to set up delivery hubs at 2,600 health facilities in Rwanda and Ghana by the end of this year. And it will soon be making deliveries of medical supplies in the U.S., starting in North Carolina, where it has secured permission from the FAA to do so.</p>



<p>“People think what we do is solving a developing economies problem. But critical-access hospitals are closing at an alarming rate in the U.S., too, especially if you live in the rural U.S. Life expectancy there has declined over the past several years,” Rinaudo said.</p>



<p>According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/usaleep/usaleep.html#life-expectancy" class="">data from</a>&nbsp;the National Center for Health Statistics,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db329-h.pdf" class="">drug overdose deaths</a>&nbsp;have been a major factor in lower life expectancy in the U.S, especially in rural areas.</p>



<p>With its recent expansion into Ghana, Zipline is now able to deliver more than 170 different vaccines, blood products and medications to nearly 22 million people.Zipline International</p>



<p>By partnering with health-care facilities, governments and pharmaceuticals businesses, Rinaudo said Zipline aims to provide a much higher level of access to necessary treatments wherever people live.</p>



<p>The company’s drones carry up to about 4 lbs (or 1.75 kg) of cargo, fly at up to 68 mph (or 110 km/hr) in all weather and have a round-trip range of about 99 miles (or 160 km). In Rwanda, Zipline’s drones have flown more than 1 million km and have made more than13,000 deliveries.</p>



<p>Zipline’s efforts illustrate the humanitarian potential of drones. The company anticipates that the additional funding will support global expansion across Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Americas and position the company to serve 700 million people in the next five years.</p>



<p>Zipline announced in late April that its service, which launched in Rwanda just three years ago, had officially expanded to Ghana, making it the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/24/with-ghana-expansion-ziplines-medical-drones-now-reach-22m-people.html" class="">world’s largest autonomous medical drone-delivery service</a>, covering an area that serves nearly 22 million people.</p>



<p>The $190 million in additional funding was split between a previously unannounced round of $70 million completed in spring 2018, which included Katalyst Ventures, Baillie Gifford, GV, Temasek and Goldman Sachs, and a recent round of $120 million, which included additional investments by Baillie Gifford and new investor The Rise Fund.</p>



<p><em>This article first appeared on CNBC </em> <br><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/zipline-medical-delivery-drone-start-up-now-valued-at-1point2-billion.html"><em>https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/zipline-medical-delivery-drone-start-up-now-valued-at-1point2-billion.html</em></a><em>  and is republished with its permission </em></p>


Zipline, which launched in Rwanda, now a unicorn

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<p>Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame spent the day with the innovative and powerful of the world at Viva Tech in Paris that is becoming a draw for African companies. Last year, Rwandan companies including AC Group, Irembo, Awesomity Lab, Zipline, Pivot Access, FabLab, Guez Show and Pascal Technologies exhibited at the tech show in Paris. CNBC caught with President Kagame at the show and he talked technology and its relationship with the rebuilding of his country.</p>


President Paul Kagame speaks on how technology can rebuild Rwanda

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<p>Zipline, a robotic firm that launched medical drone delivery service in Rwanda to ensure fast and reliable access to medical products, will today officially launch it first distribution centre in Ghana. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Israel Bimpe, Head of National Implementation, Zipline.</p>


Rwanda’s Zipline launches in Ghana

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<p>In 2016, robotics firm Zipline launched medical drone delivery service in Rwanda to facilitate access to medical products which is hampered by lack of adequate transportation, communication and supply chain infrastructure. The firm now looks to start assembling drones in Rwanda as part of a new agreement with the government; for more on this CNBC Africa spoke to Israel Bimpe, Head of National Implementation at Zipline.</p>


Robotics firm Zipline to start assembling drones in Rwanda

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<p>East Africa is leading the world in pursuing technological solutions to provisions of health services.</p>


Drones to deliver medicines in remote African communities

<p>NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Tanzania is set to launch the world’s largest drone delivery network in January, with drones parachuting blood and medicines out of the skies to save the lives of women giving birth and children struck by malaria, in a country larger than Nigeria.</p>
<p>California’s Zipline will make 2,000 deliveries a day to more than 1,000 health facilities across the east African country, including blood, vaccines and malaria and AIDS drugs, following the success of a smaller project in nearby Rwanda.</p>
<p>“It’s the right move,” Lilian Mvule, 51, said by phone, recalling how her granddaughter died from malaria two years ago.</p>
<p>“She needed urgent blood transfusion from a group O, which was not available,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.</p>
<p><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/east-africa/2016/10/15/rwanda-drone-delivery-service/">Rwanda unveils world’s first national drone delivery service</a></p>
<p>Malaria is a major killer in Tanzania and children under the age of five often need blood transfusions when they develop malaria-induced anaemia. If supplies are out of stock, as is often the case with rare blood types, they can die.</p>
<p>Tanzania is larger than Nigeria and four times the size of the United Kingdom, making it hard for the cash-strapped government to ensure all of its 5,000-plus clinics are fully stocked, particularly in remote rural areas.</p>
<p>The drones fly at 100 km (62 miles) per hour, much faster than travelling by road. Small packages are dropped from the sky using a biodegradable parachute.</p>
<p>The government also hopes to save the lives of thousands of women who die from profuse bleeding after giving birth.</p>
<p>Tanzania has one of the world’s worst maternal mortality rates, with 556 deaths per 100,000 deliveries, government data shows.</p>
<p>“It’s a problem we can help solve with on-demand drone delivery,” Zipline’s chief executive, Keller Rinaudo, said in a statement.</p>
<p>“African nations are showing the world how it’s done.”</p>
<p>Companies in the United States and elsewhere are keen to use drones to cut delivery times and costs, but there are hurdles ranging from the risk of collisions with airplanes to ensuring battery safety and longevity.</p>
<p>The drones will cut the drug delivery bill for Tanzania’s capital, Dodoma, one of two regions where the project will first roll out, by $58,000 a year, according to Britain’s Department for International Development, one of the project’s backers.</p>
<p>The initiative could also ease tensions between frustrated patients and health workers.</p>
<p>“We always accuse nurses of stealing drugs,” said Angela Kitebi, who lives some 40 km east of Dodoma.</p>
<p>“We don’t realise that the drugs are not getting here on time due to bad roads.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Kizito Makoye. Editing by Katy Migiro. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.</p>


zipline

Drone delivery service Zipline raises $250mn to fund expansion

Zipline begins drone delivery of COVID-19 test samples in Ghana

African health start-up Zipline on the forefront of COVID-19 fight

Zipline, which launched in Rwanda, now a unicorn

President Paul Kagame speaks on how technology can rebuild Rwanda

Rwanda’s Zipline launches in Ghana

Robotics firm Zipline to start assembling drones in Rwanda

Drones to deliver medicines in remote African communities

Tanzania to launch world’s largest drone delivery network

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zipline

Drone delivery service Zipline raises $250mn to fund expansion

Zipline begins drone delivery of COVID-19 test samples in Ghana

African health start-up Zipline on the forefront of COVID-19 fight

Zipline, which launched in Rwanda, now a unicorn

President Paul Kagame speaks on how technology can rebuild Rwanda

Rwanda’s Zipline launches in Ghana

Robotics firm Zipline to start assembling drones in Rwanda

Drones to deliver medicines in remote African communities

Tanzania to launch world’s largest drone delivery network

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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