Manna Drone Delivery (Manna), an Irish drone-based delivery services provider, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Coca-Cola HBC and has entered into a strategic partnership with the same. The investment reportedly brings the company’s total funds raised to USD 40 million.

Manna intends to utilize the funds to expand its reach to the US market. The company will work with Coca-Cola HBC to access the possibilities of scaling its services across the locations where Coca-Cola HBC operates.

The company also announced plans to expand its footprint to the US market, starting from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. It has partnered with multinational real estate developer Hillwood for the purpose, planning to cater to a selected number of Hillwood's residential developments (covering about 10,000 residents). Initially, the company will launch one hub with about 10 drones, with plans to expand the footprint in the future.

The company has not specified a timeline to commence operations in Texas and is yet to obtain Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s approvals prior to deployment. 

Analyst QuickTake: As per today’s news, Manna will soon be added to the list of drone-based delivery services providers that serve communities in Texas. In fact, Wing, a drone-based delivery division of Google parent company Alphabet, operates drone deliveries in Little Elm and Frisco; Israel-based peer startup, Flytrex, conducts deliveries in Granbury; and Amazon’s drone-based delivery division Amazon Prime Air, commenced trials in College Station , all in Texas.