Zipline, a U.S. autonomous drone delivery startup, added $200M to its Series H round, bringing the total to $800M following an initial tranche in January that valued the company at $7.6B, with new participant Paradigm joining existing backers Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, and Tiger Global. The funds will accelerate expansion into at least four U.S. states this year, with Houston, Phoenix, and Seattle already announced, as the company reports delivery volume growth that beat forecasts in January and February and average basket sizes up more than 20% over the past three weeks. Zipline also closed a new national-scale contract in Rwanda that will bring its Platform 2 drone delivery service to major cities there, while it opens a third distribution center to serve every hospital and health facility in the country.
