Zipline started delivering blood by drone in Rwanda in 2016. Its drones have made over two million deliveries.
An American start-up whose most visible work began in Africa: delivering blood, vaccines and medicines to rural clinics in Rwanda and Ghana.
Zipline grew from an earlier company, Romotive, which made an iPhone-controlled robot and ceased operations in 2014. Its founders then began developing a fixed-wing drone platform for medical delivery, which became Zipline.
Rwanda first
The company began operating in Rwanda in October 2016 under an agreement with the government to deliver blood and medical supplies to rural clinics from a central distribution centre. A second centre opened in 2018 as deliveries widened to include routine vaccines and essential medicines.
Ghana and beyond
Zipline launched in Ghana on 24 April 2019 under a government contract providing drone delivery to public-sector health facilities. It also deployed temperature-controlled payload systems to deliver vaccines requiring cold chains, including during COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in parts of Africa. Distribution centres now operate in the United States, Rwanda, Ghana, Japan, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya.
It completed its millionth commercial delivery in April 2024, and as of January 2026 reported more than two million deliveries and over 120 million miles flown.
Zipline is described as a Silicon Valley startup whose most visible commercial activity occurred abroad, mostly through government contracts for moving medical supplies to hard-to-reach places. For founders, the lesson is to find the place where your technology solves the biggest problem, even if it is not where you started.
