Côte d'Ivoire has approved an eight-year public-private partnership with Zipline that will expand the company's autonomous drone delivery network from a single distribution center in Daloa to ten hubs nationwide, projecting coverage of more than 2,200 health facilities and over 12 million people, roughly a third of the country's population1,2,3,4.
The expansion is backed in part by a $150 million pay-for-performance award from the U.S. Department of State, which provides upfront infrastructure financing on the condition that host governments commit to covering ongoing operating costs. Côte d'Ivoire's government has made that commitment, paying Zipline for pharmacy-grade warehousing, cold chain, digital tracking, and delivery over the contract's eight-year term.
Pilot results and buildout phases
The deal builds on a pilot that began in Daloa in 2023. In three years, Zipline says it delivered more than 3.55 million medical products, including roughly 2 million vaccine doses and 20,500 units of blood, to over 220 health facilities across five regions. The company estimates those deliveries contributed to more than 2,000 lives saved.
Government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly said the buildout will proceed in two phases: the first, spanning 27 months, covers Daloa, Biankouma, San Pedro, and Kouto; the second adds six centers in the Autonomous District of Abidjan and the Indénié-Djuablin, Gbêkê, Kabadougou, Bélier, and Gontougo regions. Each hub combines warehousing, cold storage, inventory management, autonomous drone dispatch, and digital tracking.
Zipline and Ivorian officials project a roughly 300% return on investment once the full network is operational, though neither the company nor the Council of Ministers communiqué specifies the total amount the state is spending.
Continental expansion and fundraising
The Côte d'Ivoire contract is part of a broader African push. Zipline now operates in five markets on the continent: Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Côte d'Ivoire. In Nigeria, the company plans to grow from three to 15 distribution hubs by 2028, targeting 20,000 health facilities and nearly 100 million people. Both expansions draw on the same U.S. government pay-for-performance funding model.
Separately, Zipline is in talks to raise approximately $1 billion at a roughly $20 billion valuation, which would nearly triple the $7.6 billion figure set earlier this year[2]. Paradigm is discussing leading the round, and Tiger Global Management is weighing participation.
The expansion is led on the Ivorian side by the Ministry of Health under Minister Pierre N'Gou Dimba. Zipline Vice President for Africa Go-To-Market Xavier Greusard said the buildout is meant to create an Ivorian-led logistics ecosystem, with local teams trained across pharmacy, aviation operations, maintenance, and data management.
ANALYSIS The deal's structure, where Washington funds infrastructure and the host government funds operations, gives Zipline a replicable template for scaling across its five African markets without bearing the full capital burden itself. The pending $1 billion raise at a $20 billion valuation would supply additional capital as the company attempts to multiply its hub count across multiple countries simultaneously.