Zipline funding tied to major Walmart expansion

Zipline has closed a $1.5 billion funding round that values the drone delivery and logistics company at $21.5 billion post-money. Announced on November 5, 2026, the financing coincides with a significant expansion of its commercial relationship with Walmart (WMT), which has agreed to launch 300 additional Zipline drone delivery sites under a national multi-year agreement. The new valuation compares with Zipline’s prior $7.6 billion valuation in January 2026. The company describes the latest funding as part of its effort to build a nationwide drone delivery network.

The round was led by Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global. Additional investors include Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Uber (UBER), Tiger Global, J.P. Morgan, ARK Invest and Salesforce Ventures. Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner of Paradigm, said Zipline is now one of the largest autonomous robotics companies in the world.

Walmart has signed a national multi-year agreement to add 300 Zipline drone delivery sites across the United States, with the potential to expand further. Walmart’s entire drone delivery program across both Zipline and Alphabet-owned Wing operated from 66 stores in four states when the retailer announced its millionth delivery in May 2026, so the new Zipline agreement alone represents more than four times that footprint. Zipline and Walmart currently operate 21 sites in Texas and Arkansas, and the service can carry packages weighing up to 8 pounds where it is available.

Walmart’s drone program has completed more than 2 million deliveries to date. Tens of thousands of eligible items can be delivered in as fast as 30 minutes in participating areas. Greg Cathey, Walmart’s senior vice president of e-commerce fulfillment transformation, said customers often first try drone delivery for the novelty and then return for the convenience when they need items within minutes.

Zipline plans to use the $1.5 billion in new capital to expand its U.S. manufacturing facilities and increase hiring as it builds out its drone delivery network. In 2026 alone, the company has raised about $2.3 billion, including more than $600 million at a $7.6 billion valuation in January, a $200 million extension in March and the latest $1.5 billion round. Zipline says its drones have flown 150 million commercial autonomous miles.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Zipline reports more than 1 million deliveries in 2026 and a median delivery time of 19 minutes after checkout in October, compared with more than 30 minutes for traditional delivery. Uber (UBER) is targeting 1 million deliveries a day with Zipline by 2029. A group of Zipline’s longest-tenured restaurant partners recorded a 26% increase in delivery gross merchandise value, with 80% of that increase attributed to Zipline orders and Zipline’s share of their delivery revenue rising from 10.8% in March to 34.9% in October.

The 300-site Zipline agreement gives Walmart a significantly expanded drone delivery pipeline alongside its existing contract with Wing, which covers more than 270 locations by 2027. Zipline’s Walmart operations have so far centered on the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area and a hub near Walmart’s headquarters in Arkansas. Zipline founder and Chief Executive Officer Keller Cliffton said both companies have been surprised by the level of customer demand and expressed the ambition to expand service to every metro and eventually every home in the United States.