• Zipline, a drone-based medical supplies delivery company, announced plans to enter the Ivory Coast market by partnering with the country’s Ministry of Health, Public Hygiene, and Universal Health Coverage to deliver medical products including vaccines, medication, and blood products across the country, through drones. 

• The company will construct four distribution hubs from where items would be dispatched to 1,000+ health facilities across the country—also acting as sole distributor to many remote facilities. The first hub is expected to be operational by end-2022.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Zipline is one of the most advanced startups in the drone delivery space, having conducted more than 220,000 commercial deliveries to date—mostly in Africa where its primary operations are. Zipline currently has commercial operations in several African countries including Rwanda, Ghana, and Nigeria. Necessary funds for today’s expansion were made available to the company in June when it raised USD 250 million in a Series E funding round to expand operations in Africa and the US. Although other drone startups such as Wingcopter and Volansi have also tapped the African market, none of them have entered Ivory Coast.</ul>