Zipline International Inc. is a startup that specializes in building drones that serve as delivery service providers. Zipline’s drones deliver medical supplies to hospitals and clinics located in secluded areas that aren’t accessible by land. Even though there are several companies in the drone delivery service industry, Zipline intends to only focus on medical supplies delivery compared to its closest competitors who deliver food, pharmaceutical drugs or construction supplies.
Zip, the small robot airplane, can carry vaccines, medicine and blood to remote towns and villages who don’t have easy access to urban areas. The delivery service is extremely straightforward. A health worker places an order to Zipline via text and within minutes a Zip is launched. The drone races at 100 km/h, arriving faster than any other means of transportation. The medical supplies are dropped off with the assistance of a small parachute, landing safely in an open sized area.
Some of their recent projects include delivering blood to Rwandan hospitals and healthcare centers that serve approximately 6 million people. The project has been so successful that the Rwandan government will expand Zipline’s delivery service so it can benefit all of their 11 million citizens. Future projects include drone-delivery of anti-venoms, vaccines and rabies treatments. Recently, Zipline raised $25 million that will go into research and development (R&D) and new projects for countries like Indonesia and Vietnam.
Drone technology and manufacturing are within the industries that can benefit from Research and Development Tax Credits. The R&D Tax Credit is available to companies that designs, develops or improves these types of robots. For more information on federal and state tax incentives, visit our website www.indagotax.com or email us at [email protected]