Zipline, a drone-based medical supply delivery company, has partnered with the Toyota Tsusho Corporation, a subsidiary of the Toyota Group and a Zipline investor, to deliver pharmaceutical and other critical medical supplies by drones to remote areas in Japan. This marks Zipline’s entry into Japan.

Zipline plans to expand its drone operations to include other use-cases and to make country-wide deliveries in the future.

Toyota Tsusho will operate the distribution centers using Ziplne’s drones and systems, unlike Zipline’s usual business model where it owns and operates distribution centers.

Matternet, a rival drone delivery company, also expanded to Japan last September via a partnership with Japan Airlines to deliver medical supplies starting in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Zipline primarily operates in Rwanda, where it delivers medical supplies to remote health facilities. It also has operations in Ghana, Nigeria, India, and the Philippines. Additionally, Zipline has run pilot operations in North Carolina since 2019 in partnership with companies including Novant Health and Walmart. Overall, the company has completed more than 100,000 commercial deliveries to date (mostly in Africa), making it one of the most advanced startups in the drone delivery space.