Drone delivery start-up Manna raises $25m
Irish company designs, builds, and operates UAVs to perform high-speed deliveries
29 April 2021 |
Food delivery start-up Manna has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Draper Esprit, with participation from Team Europe, DST Global, and with participation from existing investors Dynamo Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, and Elkstone.
Based in Ireland, Manna designs, builds, and operates unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that perform high-speed deliveries of takeaway food, groceries and pharmacy goods/supplies of up to 3kgs.
Autonomous delivery enables a single Manna employee managing multiple drones to operate almost 20 deliveries per hour – 10 times the number that can be done with traditional road-based delivery. According to a statement from Manna, the service is quieter, greener, faster, respects privacy and is safer than road-based alternatives.
The current trail of its service in Galway represents the largest drone delivery trial of its kind globally. The drone hub supports over 100 takeaway deliveries a day directly to the homes of the nearly 10,000 residents of the town.
Manna has also signed partnerships with brands and retailers, including JustEat, Samsung, Ben & Jerry’s and Tesco.
“The Covid-19 pandemic forced consumers across the world to re-assess how they source their goods and opened our eyes to the fragility of our supply chains,” said Bobby Healy, CEO & founder of Manna. “There is a huge appetite for a greener, quieter, safer and faster delivery service, and we’re excited to use this fresh round of funding to expand operations and offer our service to even more customers. We are already working with our partners to deliver grocery products, takeaways and pharmaceutical supplies, and as we continue to scale our fleet of drones we will also begin supporting critical medical deliveries.”
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