The U.S. State Department has approved a grant worth up to US$150 million to Zipline, the American drone-delivery company, aiming to sharply scale its medical logistics networks across Africa.
- •The grant is among the first major U.S. global-health commitments since the Trump administration froze foreign-aid spending and restructured U.S. development agencies.
- •The funding places Zipline, best known for using autonomous aircraft to ferry vaccines, blood, and medicines; at the center of a new approach that favors private-sector operators over traditional government-run aid systems.
- •Zipline is set to expand operations in five African countries where it already maintains extensive medical-supply corridors: Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire.
“We started Zipline to build a logistics system that serves all people equally. Today the U.S. government is doubling down on our work, and using our AI, robotics and autonomous logistics system to improve health outcomes,” said Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, CEO and Co-Founder of Zipline.
Zipline’s expansion is built around a pay-for-performance model that requires African governments to commit long-term funding for drone-based logistics. Under the arrangement, the State Department’s contribution will trigger only when the listed countries sign utilization contracts. Rwanda is expected to be the first partner government to sign up to the grant under the new model.
For Kenya, the expansion will add new distribution centers to complement its existing operations, widening access to remote counties where road logistics remain slow or unreliable. Similar scale-ups are planned in West Africa, where the company’s air corridors have increasingly become part of national immunization and pharmaceutical-delivery programs.
“African governments are choosing to invest their own resources in Zipline because it works, and it’s incredible value for money. It solves intractable global health challenges like maternal mortality, malnutrition, and under 5 mortality,” said Caitlin Burton, CEO of Zipline’s Africa business.
The company has completed more than 1.8 million autonomous deliveries and integrated its systems into national health programs. Delivery times that previously stretched over days have been compressed into under an hour, contributing to its adoption by countries seeking faster, more reliable medical supply chains.
