'Disruptive' Drone-Delivery Startup Zipline Hires Former Tesla CFO

CNBC reports that former Tesla CFO Deepak Ahuja (now at Alphabet's Verily Life Sciences) will join the leadership team at Zipline, a Silicon Valley-based company providing drone deliveries:It initially focused on medical supplies, but is expanding into e-commerce and food delivery. The company has previously partnered with the Rwandan government to deliver medical supplies and handled Covid-19 vaccine distribution in Ghana, and has expanded operations from three to seven countries over the last two years, according to a release.... "Rarely do I see this level of disruption and impact paired with the world-class technology that Zipline's team is building," Ahuja said in a release. "It's an exciting time for Zipline, and I'm thrilled to join the team as we keep building to offer these solutions at a massive scale." The move comes "as the drone delivery and logistics startup accelerates its global expansion in Africa, the United States and other regions," reports TechCrunch, noting that Ahuja will be the company's first chief business and financial officer:Zipline also operates in Japan and in the United States, including Arkansas and North Carolina. The company is expanding to Utah later this year through a partnership with Intermountain Health and announced plans to begin operations with Multicare Health System in Washington starting in 2024. Ahuja will focus on building Zipline's business in the United States and other regions globally, the company told TechCrunch.... His appointment signals Zipline's growing aspirations fueled by partnerships and $250 million in venture capital it raised last year. (The company has raised $486 million to date.) The company, founded in 2014, has developed the entire ecosystem from the drones and logistics software to launch and landing system.... It also recently received FAA Part 135 approval for its long-range drone delivery service in the United States.... Zipline has partnerships with Toyota Group and UPS, it delivers medical equipment and personal protective gear for Novant Health in North Carolina and health and wellness products for Walmart.

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