Zipline has appointed former Tesla, Uber Eats, and Waymo executives to its leadership team as it scales drone delivery operations across the US. The South San Francisco startup now completes one drone delivery every 20 seconds and has surpassed 2.5 million commercial deliveries to date. Former Tesla finance vice president Sendil Palani joins as CFO, whilst Kevin Vosen, previously chief legal officer at Waymo, becomes CLO. Allen Penn, ex-Uber Eats vice president, will head commercialisation. Zipline's factory can produce 24,000 drones annually. The company works with clients including Cleveland Clinic, Little Caesars, Chipotle, and Walmart. CEO Keller Rinaudo expects the US business to grow 15 times this year, with roughly 70% of daily deliveries now occurring domestically.

Wonder, a food technology platform, has partnered with Zipline to launch drone delivery at its Texas locations starting January 2027. The service will begin in Dallas, with Wonder expecting most of its Texas sites to offer drone delivery by year-end 2027. Zipline's electric drones will autonomously deliver meals directly to customers' homes, leveraging the company's track record of over 2.5 million autonomous deliveries worldwide. The system includes the Zipline Dropbox, requiring no special packaging or costly infrastructure changes for restaurants. Wonder is developing infrastructure across Texas ahead of its 2027 expansion, including storefronts, kitchens and ordering technology. The partnership aims to improve delivery speed and reach underserved areas, making high-quality meals more accessible across the state's fast-growing metro regions.

Zipline, the Washington-backed drone delivery firm, plans to expand its livestock insemination services across Africa following trials in Rwanda. The company claims a recent study showed its cold-chain storage and drone delivery system resulted in a 17% increase in farmers' income from higher piglet and pork production. Rwanda country director Pierre Kayitana said the company is in advanced talks with Lesotho to begin operations and is negotiating with authorities in Kigali, Abidjan and Abuja to expand nationwide coverage through additional distribution centres. Rwanda is Zipline's largest African office. The company currently operates in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, focusing on large-scale drone deliveries across the continent.