Zipline is negotiating a fresh $1 billion round that would value the drone-delivery pioneer at roughly $20 billion, according to a Bloomberg report reprinted by DroneXL on September 17. The talks would nearly triple the company's January mark of $7.6 billion and vault it into the top tier of pre-IPO physical-AI infrastructure companies, even though the U.S. rule that makes its business fully commercial-ready has been stuck in Washington limbo for months.
The Number: $20B, Off A Regulatory Cliff-Edge
The story hinges on two prices moving in opposite directions. Zipline's private mark has climbed from $2.75B in 2023 to $4.2B in 2024, then $7.6B in a $600M January round led by Google's growth arm, followed by a $200M Series H extension in March. A Uber strategic investment in August added an undisclosed check. If the current talks close at $20B, the total sum raised to date will approach $3 billion, still less than half of what Anduril or Shield AI have raised to build defense stacks.
Part 108: The Rule That Won't Sign
Zipline's Platform 2 aircraft, which lowers a delivery pod on a tether while the drone hovers, is the technology backbone for the raise. But the platform's economics assume beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights at scale. The FAA's Part 108 rule enabling routine BVLOS operations "has sat at the White House regulatory office since July 10," DroneXL noted, with its executive-order deadline passed in February. An FAA official told the outlet the rule is at the "10-yard line" with hoped-for publication before year-end, an unusually candid admission that a regulation Zipline's investors are pricing in isn't actually in force.
Investor Bet: The Rule Is Coming, The Lead Is Real
Even without Part 108, Zipline has expanded past 1.6 million deliveries and 130 million autonomous miles. It flies for Walmart, Michigan Medicine, Salt River Pediatrics and a growing list of Middle East and African medical customers. Compared with rivals, Zipline is the only publicly-tracked drone operator that has agreed to answer safety questions on the record in 2026, DroneXL reported earlier this month. The $20B tag is a bet that Platform 2's silence-and-parachute design, combined with a soon-to-land Part 108, will lock in the U.S. delivery market before Amazon's Prime Air push into 500 cities or smaller platforms funded this quarter can catch up.
Reporting based on coverage from Bloomberg via DroneXL.