Zipline, operators of the world’s only drone delivery system at national scale to send urgent medicines and biological materials needed for medical facilities including blood and vaccines, was featured in the prestigious CNBC annual 2019 “Disruptor 50″ list. In addition, the company just announced US$190 Million in funding “to wildly accelerate our progress toward providing every human on Earth with instant access to vital medical supplies.” The newest funding round brings Zipline’s valuation to $1.2 billion.
The “Disruptor 50” ranking highlights innovative startups exploring business niches that thus far have gone unanswered and have the potential to up-end an existing industry. The methodology used to select the venture capital-backed enterprises includes nominee evaluation qualifying the businesses as “developing revolutionary new technology into scalable business models.”
.@Zipline, which ranked No. 39 on the #Disruptor50 list, has raised $190 million in venture funding and attained a $1.2 billion valuation from its investors. pic.twitter.com/BZcYVIdaYs
— CNBC Disruptors (@CNBCDisruptors) May 17, 2019
To qualify as a nominee for the “Disruptor 50”, companies must have been founded after January 1, 2004, and were required to submit a bevy of qualitative and quantitative information. The information required for the nomination included recent company developments, a list of the key technologies driving the business, detailed sales, and user growth. The data sets are evaluated by the 66 members of the Advisory Council and more than 50 members of CNBC‘s editorial staff, who then assign holistic scores that are used to generate the final list and ranking order.
Also included in the 2019 ranking was New York-based Casper, co-founded by Chief Executive Officer Philip Krim, Neil Parikh, Jeff Chapin, Gabe Flateman, and Luke Sherwin. Casper, ranked as number eight of 50, most recently raised an additional US$100 million in funding in March 2019.
Related: Zipline lauded for brevity and accuracy in The Economist
