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Walmart Adds 300 Zipline Drone Delivery Sites Nationwide After $1.5B Funding Round
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Zipline raises $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion valuation to expand U.S. drone network Walmart signs a multi-year deal to add 300 Zipline drone sites nationwide
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Walmart and Zipline expand
Walmart announced a new multi-year agreement with Zipline to add 300 drone delivery sites nationwide, as the retailer said the program had completed more than 2 million deliveries since its work with Zipline began in 2021. Zipline said it raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation to expand its U.S. drone manufacturing and autonomous delivery network, with new agreements involving Walmart and Uber. Walmart positioned drone delivery as one part of a wider same-day network, saying eligible customers can order tens of thousands of items through its app or website with delivery in as little as 30 minutes where the service is available.
Zipline said its autonomous fleet has logged 150 million commercial miles without a safety incident and that its medical deliveries help save an estimated 14,000 lives annually. Uber targeted 1 million daily deliveries by 2029 through Zipline, while Zipline reported more than 1 million deliveries in Dallas-Fort Worth this year and a median delivery time of 19 minutes.
Speed, noise, and demand
Walmart said its rollout uses its existing store footprint as a distribution base, and the retailer said 90 percent of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart store. Zipline reported that in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area during 2026 it completed more than 1 million deliveries, and it said the median of 19 minutes from checkout in October compared with more than 30 minutes for traditional delivery services. Zipline said it introduced a sound-optimized dynamic flying system designed to reduce flight noise while improving speed and energy efficiency, and it described a next-generation aircraft designed to fly higher and more quietly.
Zipline said its autonomous aircraft have accumulated 150 million commercial flight miles without a safety incident since the company began operations a decade ago, and it said its business includes long-range medical deliveries across multiple continents. Walmart said eligible addresses can also place orders through the Zipline app, while Zipline said its delivery orders did not reduce demand through other delivery platforms.
What comes next
Zipline said it will use the $1.5 billion to expand its U.S. manufacturing facilities and hire additional employees as it builds a nationwide autonomous delivery network. Walmart said the additional option is intended to serve customers who need a small number of items quickly rather than a full routine order, and it said the company provided no timetable for the 300 locations beyond describing the agreement as multi-year. Zipline said its share of delivery revenue among a group of long-standing restaurant partners rose from 10.8% in March to 34.9% in October, and it said the same restaurants reported a 26% increase in delivery gross merchandise value with Zipline orders accounting for 80% of the increase.
Walmart said it has completed more than 2 million deliveries, while Zipline said it has made more than one million deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in 2026 and that the median October order arrived 19 minutes after checkout. Zipline said it is working with businesses developing locations specifically for drone delivery, and it cited Wonder as building new storefronts and kitchens designed to operate with Zipline’s service.