Drone delivery company Zipline has partnered with Nigeria’s Kaduna, a state in north western Nigeria to enable drone shipment of COVID-19 vaccines.
Drone
Kaduna’s collaboration with Zipline, which over the past year has distributed more than 1 million doses of other vaccines in Africa, will also enable blood products, medicines and other vaccines to be delivered on demand.
Zipline also said it is in talks with Nigeria’s other states.
From Delivering Blood to Delivering Pizza, Drones Have To Inspire New Generations of African Logistics Startups On Last Mile Delivery
According to a research report from Radiant Insight, “Unmanned aerial systems(UAS) markets (mostly dominated by drones) stood at $609 million in 2014. They are also expected to grow to $4.8 billion dollars, worldwide this year. The leading markets for drone use and sales include oil and gas mapping, utility line inspection, package delivery, and agricultural applications.
The American startup which delivers medical supplies, including blood, rabies vaccines and antivenom, to thousands of hard-to-reach health clinics in Rwanda and Ghana achieved a unicorn status in May 2019, having reached $1.2 billion in valuation.
The startup crossed the line in a $190 million new venture funding from top venture capitalists, including Baillie Gifford, The Rise Fund (which is TPG’s global impact fund), Temasek, Alphabet’s investment arm GV and Katalyst Ventures. The funding brought Zipline’s total capital raised to $225 million, before finally putting its market worth at $1.2 billion.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
When Zipline, the California-based drone-delivery startup that delivers critical medical supplies in countries was launched last year April in Ghana, naysayers called out the government for wasting close to $12.5 million in signing on the startup, an amount which, according to them, should have been better spent on more important and simpler things the health sector really needs such as the critical shortage of hospital beds, gloves, among others. But, it appears that the table has been turned and the naysayers have buried their faces in shame.
Zip line CEO, Keller Rinaudo
By the terms of the deal with the Ghanaian government:
Zipline was to make 600 deliveries a day (150 deliveries from each of the four centers it would be operating from) for the next four years, starting from 2019 and they would be paid per successful delivery.
For that to happen, Ghana had been billed $12.5 million by Zipline to cover the period. It has also most recently been given a $10 million tax concession by the Ghanaian government.
The hope of Ghana’s health policymakers is that the drone delivery system which has faster drop-off rate will improve its health outcomes including reducing its maternal and infant mortality rates.
However, the Coronavirus outbreak has meant that a bigger crisis has arisen, and Zipline appears to have been at the right place at the right time. On April 17, the startup begun delivering Covid-19 test samples in the country’s two largest cities — Accra, the nation’s capital, and Kumasi, the country’s second-largest city — the first time that drones have been used in this way to deliver Covid-19 test samples. The new delivery service allows the Ghanaian government to more closely monitor and respond to the spread of the disease in some of the countries most remote areas.
“Zipline is dedicated to helping Ghana in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” said CEO Keller Rinaudo. “Using contactless drone delivery to transport Covid-19 test samples will allow the government to respond to the pandemic and help save lives more quickly.”
The first of delivery saw 51 test samples collected from patients at rural health facilities and transported to the company’s distribution center in Omenako, Ghana. Over the course of four separate flights, the company delivered those 51 samples to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Accra for testing and analysis.
The company will also be delivering Covid-19 test samples collected at regional hospitals near its Mapong distribution center to the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research. The first such delivery took place on Saturday, April 18. The company said it expects to operate this new daily service for the duration of the government’s Covid-19 response efforts, marking the first time in history that autonomous drones have been used to make regular long-range deliveries into densely populated urban areas.
Since its launch in October 2016, the company’s autonomous drones have flown more than 2 million miles and delivered more than 60,000 vaccines, units of blood and other medical products in Ghana, Rwanda and India.
From all these, there is no need to saying further that Zipline saw the COVID-19 pandemic on time.
The Era of Drones Is Inevitable and Smart African Startups Which Take On The Risk Could Win Big
Already, drones are business models to these industries:
Global courier and delivery service companies using drones for last mile delivery.
Logistics companies have been experimenting with drones for delivery. According to Business Insider:
“Drone deliveries will translate to instant cost savings, part of which will be passed onto consumers.It costs far less to operate a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles than it does a fleet of ground vehicles.It costs 10 cents to deliver a 4.4 pound(2kilo) package over six miles(9.7kilometers)using a drone,according to Raffaello D’Andrea,who co founded Kiva Systems (the warehouse robots used by Amazon) . That’s far cheaper than the $2 to $8 per package that it costs Amazon today using ground transportation for deliveries over this “last mile.”
Offering 30 minute delivery at such a low cost to consumers could boost Amazon’s eCommerce and retail market share.That’s because “high than expected shipping costs” are the top reason why consumers abandon a shopping cart online. The retailer achieving the most significant reductions in shipping fees will likely win consumer loyalty and market share.
3. Companies providing drone operations and management:
Post-Covid-19, There Is No Doubt That Last Miles Delivery Drones Are Finally Coming To Stay
This is why for Ghanaian nurses like Gladys Tetteh, the use of drones are very much a case of what’s not to like?
“It makes us work faster and the mothers will not stay too long here trying to vaccinate their children,” she said.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer.
Ghana-based drone delivery startup, Zipline is set to benefit from a $10 million tax waiver from the Ghanaian government. The government has agreed to waive taxes to the tune of over US$10 million to enable the Ministry of Health to purchase materials and equipment for Fly Zipline Ghana Limited. The request will pave the way for Zipline to deliver emergency health and blood products to public health facilities in the country under the service agreement between the company and the Government of Ghana.
Ghanaian Vice President,Mahamudu Bawumia
Fly Zipline Ghana Limited has a service agreement with Ghana to use drones to distribute essential medicines to remote areas of the country, and per the terms of the agreement, the company will install, operate and maintain the drones.
Here Is All You Need To Know
In April 2019, Ghanaian Vice President,Mahamudu Bawumia, signed a deal with Zipline to use drones to cover over 2,000 health facilities in Ghana which serve 12 million Ghanaians (out of a population of just 30 million).
By the terms of the agreement, Zipline is expected to begin operations from small community clinics and vaccination centers and then reach out to larger general hospitals.
The Terms Of The Deal, In Part, Are As Follows:
Zipline is to make 600 deliveries a day (150 deliveries from each of the four centers it would be operating from) for the next four years and they will be paid per successful delivery.
For that to happen, Ghana has been billed $12.5 million by Zipline to cover the period.
The hope of Ghana’s health policymakers is that the drone delivery system which has faster drop-off rate will improve its health outcomes including reducing its maternal and infant mortality rates.
The delivery program, if successful, will also help to reduce the incidence of wastage of medical products, as a result of overstocking at hospitals.
According to the World Health Organization, “severe bleeding during delivery or after childbirth is the commonest cause of maternal mortality and contributes to around 34% of maternal deaths in Africa.” The timely access to safe blood could save many lives.
Critics Say This Is A Big Hoax
Although Zipline is describing the Ghana operation as the world’s largest drone delivery service, Ghanaian naysayers called out the government for wasting such amount of money, which should have been spent on more important and simpler things the health sector really needs such as the critical shortage of hospital beds, gloves, consistent supply of water and the improvement of hospital buildings.
Zipline appears, however, to be all out for business and does not seem to be buying into any of the stories. It plans to make Ghana the base for training future Zipline flight operators and prepares further to expand into more countries in the coming years. Already, Uganda, Senegal and some states in Nigeria are expressing interests in the drone delivery system. Zipline’s operations in Rwanda in 2016, delivering blood and blood products during emergencies, were largely successful.
The company is targeting the “last mile delivery” challenge which many logistics operators face in African cities and rural area where road networks are either underdeveloped or poorly maintained. The focus of last mile logistics is to deliver items to the end user as fast as possible.
From Delivering Blood to Delivering Pizza, Drones Have To Inspire New Generations of African Logistics Startups or Drone Manufacturers
According to a research report from Radiant Insight, “Unmanned aerial systems(UAS) markets (mostly dominated by drones) stood at $609 million in 2014. They are also expected to grow to $4.8 billion dollars, worldwide by 2021. The leading markets for drone use and sales include oil and gas mapping, utility line inspection, package delivery, and agricultural applications
The American startup which delivers medical supplies, including blood, rabies vaccines and antivenom, to thousands of hard-to-reach health clinics in Rwanda and Ghana achieved a unicorn status in May 2019, having reached $1.2 billion in valuation.
The startup crossed the line in a $190 million new venture funding from top venture capitalists, including Baillie Gifford, The Rise Fund (which is TPG’s global impact fund), Temasek, Alphabet’s investment arm GV and Katalyst Ventures. The funding brought Zipline’s total capital raised to $225 million, before finally putting its market worth at $1.2 billion.
The contract is expected to run for a four-year period.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer.
He could be contacted at udohrapulu@gmail.com
Zipline is not leaving any stone un-turned. While aiming to solve medical emergency problems, it is not entirely looking away from the funding that would sustain its life for a greater time to come. The American startup which delivers medical supplies, including blood, rabies vaccines and antivenom, to thousands of hard-to-reach health clinics in Rwanda and Ghana is now worth $1.2 billion in valuation.
The startup crossed the new line in a $190 million new venture funding from top venture capitalists, including Baillie Gifford, The Rise Fund (which is TPG’s global impact fund), Temasek, Alphabet’s investment arm GV and Katalyst Ventures. The funding brings Zipline’s total capital raised to $225 million, before finally putting its market worth at $1.2 billion valuation.
2017 data
Zipline Is Not Looking Back — The New Funding Will Enable It To Shoot Beyond Its Boundaries
For CEO, Keller Rinaudo, who co-founded Zipline with Keenan Wyrobek and William Hetzler in 2011, with the new funding, Zipline is aiming to set up delivery hubs at 2,600 health facilities in Rwanda and Ghana by the end of this year.
And it is not stopping there; Zipline will soon be flying drones across the US state of North Carolina where it is expected to be making deliveries of medical supplies. It has since secured the permission of America’s Federal Aviation Administration to do so.
“People think what we do is solving a developing economies problem. But critical-access hospitals are closing at an alarming rate in the U.S., too, especially if you live in the rural U.S. Life expectancy there has declined over the past several years,” Rinaudo said.
By partnering with health-care facilities, governments and pharmaceuticals businesses, Rinaudo said Zipline aims to provide a much higher level of access to necessary treatments wherever people live.
2017 data
Key Reminder of How Zipline Is Gradually Invading The Drone Market And Delivering Services
Zipline’s drones carry up to about 4 lbs (or 1.75 kg) of cargo, fly at up to 68 mph (or 110 km/hr) in all weather and have a round-trip range of about 99 miles (or 160 km).
Already in Rwanda, Zipline’s drones have flown more than 1 million km and have made more than 13,000 successful deliveries.
According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, drug overdose deaths in the United States have been a major factor in lower life expectancy in the U.S, especially in rural areas. This is what Zipline hopes to solve.
2017 data
Zipline is looking beyond Ghana, and Rwanda and North Carolina. In fact, the startup is sure that more funds will come for more of its expansion across Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the America and properly position the company to serve 700 million people in the next five years.
2017 Data
Zipline is winning and gaining momentum. One key strategy the startup brought to the table is: make last-mile logistics not only a common thing for food and retail but also for the supply of life-saving medical services.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh, a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
New drones would soon be buzzing around in Ghana’s airspace in desperate moves to deliver blood, or blood products or vaccines or anything related to emergency medicine. In so doing Zipline, the San Fransisco-based drone delivery company, expects to meet its target with the Ghanaian government.
Ghanaian Vice President,Mahamudu Bawumia, said a deal has been signed with Zipline to use drones to cover over 2,000 health facilities in Ghana which serve 12 million Ghanaians (out of a population of just 30 million) . Zipline is expected to begin operations from small community clinics and vaccination centers and then reach out to larger general hospitals.
The Terms Of The Deal, In Part, Are As Follows:
Zipline is to make 600 deliveries a day (150 deliveries from each of the four centers it would be operating from) for the next four years and they will be paid per successful delivery.
For that to happen, Ghana has been billed $12.5 million by Zipline to cover the period.
The hope of Ghana’s health policymakers is that the drone delivery system which has faster drop-off rate will improve its health outcomes including reducing its maternal and infant mortality rates.
The delivery program, if successful, will also help to reduce the incidence of wastage of medical products, as a result of overstocking at hospitals.
According to the World Health Organization, “severe bleeding during delivery or after childbirth is the commonest cause of maternal mortality and contributes to around 34% of maternal deaths in Africa.” The timely access to safe blood could save many lives.
Critics Say This Is A Big Hoax
Although Zipline is describing the Ghana operation as the world’s largest drone delivery service, Ghanaian naysayers are calling out the government for wasting such amount of money, which should have been spent on more important and simpler things the health sector really needs such as the critical shortage of hospital beds, gloves, consistent supply of water and the improvement of hospital buildings.
Zipline appears to be all out for business and does not seem to be buying into any of the stories. It plans to make Ghana the base for training future Zipline flight operators and prepares further to expand into more countries in the coming years. Already, Uganda, Senegal and some states in Nigeria are expressing interests in the drone delivery system. Zipline’s operations in Rwanda in 2016, delivering blood and blood products during emergencies, were largely successful.
The company is targeting the “last mile delivery” challenge which many logistics operators face in African cities and rural area where road networks are either underdeveloped or poorly maintained. The focus of last mile logistics is to deliver items to the end user as fast as possible.
From Delivering Blood to Delivering Pizza, Drones Have To Inspire New Generations of African Logistics Startups or Drone Manufacturers
According to a research report from Radiant Insight, “Unmanned aerial systems(UAS) markets (mostly dominated by drones) stood at $609 million in 2014. They are also expected to grow to $4.8 billion dollars, worldwide by 2021. The leading markets for drone use and sales include oil and gas mapping, utility line inspection, package delivery, and agricultural applications
Auterion Set to Announce Its Open Source Drone Control Program This Week
Should this happen, the Swiss technology firm Auterion which is working with General Electric Aviation and the Defense Innovation Unit of the U.S. Department of Defense would be allowing more consumer, commercial, and government drone manufacturers access to basic information on how drones are designed and programmed. This would also help small drone players to penetrate the drone market which is currently dominated by Chinese drone manufacturers, including DJI, by minimizing a complicated development road block: the operating system.
Google
Just last week Tuesday, April 23, 2019, the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration’s gave the first ever certification for drone deliveries to Google’s Wing Project. Wing will now start delivering commercial packages weighing up to three pounds using drones.
Amazon
With Amazon Prime Air, Amazon.com is already delivering packages using drones in just 30 minutes. The U.S. Patent and Trademark office has already published Amazon’s patent application for its drone delivery system (US Patent 20150120094). Amazon is thinking beyond just home delivery. It already has design for features like“Bring it to Me”,which would capture a customer’s location by GPS data received through mobile devices.
UPS
In 2013, sources familiar with the company’s plans said it has been testing and evaluating different approaches to drone delivery. UPS is today partnering with Matternet under the first America’s Federal Aviation Administration-sanctioned commercial drone service to deliver medical samples in North Carolina.
DHL
DHL Express has already launched its “parcelcopter”, a helicopter-style drone which will deliver medications and other urgently needed goods to the remote North Sea island of Juist.
The Drone Manufacturing Market Is Still Very Much Open
Although the manufacturing of drones usually requires a lot of money, risk-taking investors, who are willing to stay longer in the market would have a field day of success. A few drone manufacturing companies have already taken strategic positions around the world.
Drone Current Market Leaders:
Matternet a drone startup has been able to raise $16 million in seed capital from investors.They have successfully partnered with organization like Swiss Post to conduct pilots to deliver post by drones. This is a classic case of last mile delivery success.
Other manufacturers such as the Chinese DJI founded in 2006 by Frank Wang and headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China is not focused on last mile deliveries but on other applications like photography and amateur applications.The number of players in this segment just depicts how familiar and aware people are getting with drones. DJI is the leader in civil drone industry. A privately held company, it has been able to raise 0.5 billion USD in revenue in 2014.
South African drone startups such as Aerial Monitoring Solutions (AMS) founded in 2013, UDS and HAEVIC also occupy a niche in the market for low cost, customised drones.
The Era of Drones Is Inevitable and Smart Startups Who Can Take The Risk Would Win Big
Drones are already business models to these industries:
Global courier and delivery service companies using drones for last mile delivery:
Logistics companies have been experimenting with drones for delivery. According to Business Insider:
“Drone deliveries will translate to instant cost savings, part of which will be passed onto consumers.It costs far less to operate a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles than it does a fleet of ground vehicles.It costs 10 cents to deliver a 4.4 pound(2kilo) package over six miles(9.7kilometers)using a drone,according to Raffaello D’Andrea,who co founded Kiva Systems (the warehouse robots used by Amazon) . That’s far cheaper than the $2 to $8 per package that it costs Amazon today using ground transportation for deliveries over this “last mile.”
Offering 30 minute delivery at such a low cost to consumers could boost Amazon’s eCommerce and retail market share.That’s because “high than expected shipping costs” are the top reason why consumers abandon a shopping cart online. The retailer achieving the most significant reductions in shipping fees will likely win consumer loyalty and market share.
3. Companies providing drone operations and management:
Main factors that could motivate online retailers to adopt drones are:
●Cost
●Value of fast delivery
●Convenience
Last Miles Delivery Drones Are Finally Coming To Stay
This is why for Ghanaian nurses like Gladys Tetteh, the use of drones are very much a case of what’s not to like?
“It makes us work faster and the mothers will not stay too long here trying to vaccinate their children,” she said.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organisations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
