Zipline just scored a massive win: a $150 million US State Department investment to help African nations scale the world’s largest medical drone network, tripling access to lifesaving deliveries of blood and medicine.
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Australian drone delivery company Swoop Aero has returned to sector headlines after a long period of maintaining a relatively low profile by playing a critical role in the recently completed trial of Ethiopia’s first UAV medical distribution system.
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Even as leading drone delivery company Zipline readies the operational launch of its new Platform 2 network for commercial clients in the US, the company is fêting the anniversary of its groundbreaking healthcare distribution work in Africa – an activity that has already benefitted millions of people, and which is now set to be extended and diversified with the backing of trans-Atlantic government partners.
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Medical technology company Siemens Healthineers says it plans to roll out a drone delivery solution to transport laboratory diagnostics materials as well as other medical supplies in Africa. The company is joining forces with Wingcopter, a German developer and operator of delivery drones, for this initiative.
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Leading instant logistics specialist Zipline isn’t just turning heads with its increasingly innovative drone delivery activity around the globe, but it is now also causing jaws to drop with fundraising effectiveness that has reportedly almost doubled its valuation to $4.2 billion.
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Instant logistics and drone delivery specialist Zipline has announced a vast expansion of its operation across Rwanda – the country in which it launched an activity that has since spread across Africa and around the world.
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Less than two weeks after Swoop Aero entered the third year of its healthcare and medical operation in Malawi, the Australian logistics and drone delivery specialist earned a grant from a US humanitarian group to scale that network across the southeastern African country.
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Trailblazing instant logistics company Zipline — along with its government partners in Rwanda and Ghana – is being honored later this month by the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) for its contributions to global aviation innovation by its medical drone delivery work in Africa. Zipline’s go-to-market director Daniel Blay talks to DroneDJ about being chosen to receive the David Morrison Innovation Award and the company’s broadening, diversifying UAV activities around the world.
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Instant logistics specialist Zipline has commenced regular commercial drone deliveries in Nigeria’s Kaduna state, following a series of test flights and approval by national regulators.
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Global instant logistics specialist Zipline has forged a partnership with Africa’s largest e-commerce retailer, Jumia, to launch an on-demand drone delivery network with ambitions to eventually span the continent.
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Australian UAV logistics specialist Swoop Aero will begin expanding the range and frequency of its drone deliveries of medical supplies in Mozambique as part of the nation’s ongoing healthcare improvement and disease prevention program.
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Zipline, a world leader in instant logistics, is launching operations in another African nation with on-demand drone deliveries of medical supplies in Kenya’s Kisumu County.
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A friendly warning to DroneDJ readers: It isn’t clear whether the proposal by an African startup to build a passenger-transporting aircraft that looks and flies like a bird (it has a passing resemblance to Transformer toys kids love) is stunning in its vision and ambition, or an elaborate gag to see how many people will be fished into believing the mind-blowing venture is actually on the level. Either way, the Phractyl Macrobat electric near vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eNVTOL – no kidding) is worth checking out.
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An estimated 10 million HIV patients around the world are unable to access life-saving medications. Often, it’s because they are located in areas so remote that ferrying the drugs becomes an extremely slow and time-consuming process. Johnson & Johnson wants to change that. That’s why the company is funding a drone program in Uganda, East Africa, to deliver HIV treatments.
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A British non-governmental organization is working with the government of Angola to clear mines from one of Africa’s largest and most diverse wildlife areas. Among the goals in making the region safer for all life in it is to allow tens of thousands of elephants trapped in neighboring Botswana to return to their native Angolan habitat.
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The world’s leading drone delivery specialist, Zipline, has announced a capital infusion of $250 million, which it will use to expand its booming activities in Africa and the US. The investment increases the total funds Zipline has raised to $486 million, and values the instant logistics company at $2.75 billion.
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The Great Wall of China may be one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, but did you know China has been building a Great Green Wall also since the past few decades? And so is Africa? New drone videos spill the beans.
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This month, Botswana became the first country in southern Africa, and the third in Africa, to begin the use of medical delivery drones. Their aim? To bring down maternal mortality by delivering life-saving health supplies to hard-to-reach communities in a timely manner.
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A Nigerian researcher has developed a carbon emission tracking drone he believes will prove effective in locating and arresting criminals, kidnappers, and even terrorists as they try to avoid detection in remote hiding places.
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Inspire Africa launched its virtual drone racing league last month to promote STEAM among school kids. The league aims to get kids thinking about STEAM disciplines while learning to code and fly drones, with the chance to pursue a career in drones.
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An Israeli startup hopes to one day be flying missions in Africa, delivering on-demand medical supplies to remote areas. And it has a unique drone to carry out that work.
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Earlier in the year the African nation of Mauritania tested drones to fight locust infestations. Now Kenya is going ahead with drones in the battle against swarms of crop-destroying pests.
Mauritania will soon be testing drones to fight back against the swarms of desert locusts damaging farmers’ crops and livelihoods. The test is thanks to the United Nations, which is hoping to minimize the damages caused by the desert locusts.
On the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, tests are underway to fight malaria with the DJI Argas drone for the first time. The unmanned aircraft are used to spray silicone-based liquid on rice paddies to prevent the malaria-carrying mosquitos from laying their eggs.