When Paul Willard, now with GrepVC, first approached us in 2016 about investing in a drone delivery company, we were skeptical but intrigued. Eight years ago, commercial drone delivery (much less consumer drone delivery) seemed like a bit of a pipe dream. However, Zipline had already begun delivering much-needed fresh blood to field hospitals in Rwanda (without electricity or refrigeration), saving over 1,000 lives per year. While we loved the idea of drones doing good in the world—delivering life-saving blood, vaccines, and other medical supplies—we were unsure how big that market was. We had no visibility into how or when the FAA might approve such a service in the U.S. But we knew Zipline had amassed impressive safety data and flight hours globally, preparing for eventual FAA certification.
We underwrote our investment, assuming the only near-term market would be healthcare in emerging countries. While we believed in the consumer drone delivery market (though unsure of the timing), we saw that market as having a multiplier effect on our investment.
A16Z led a $25M financing round at a $175M pre-money valuation. Sequoia was already an investor. It was a perfect fit for our PROOF investment model. We invested.
Fast forward to 2023 and 2024. The FAA approved Zipline’s drone operations in the U.S. Zipline began commercial deliveries with Walmart, launching from the roofs of Sam’s Clubs. And Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer with 50M+ followers on YouTube, featured Zipline in one of his videos. Zipline has now raised $1B in capital, with an investor list straight out of Who’s Who in Venture, and boasts a nearly $5B valuation.
I believe our kids will one day look back and ask, “Mom, Dad, did we really used to have trucks and cars from Amazon, FedEx, UPS, USPS, Uber, DoorDash, and more—running on gasoline with human drivers—deliver things to our house several times a day?” We will probably look back and wonder that as well. What do you think?
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