Your Burrito Just Got Wings: Uber and Zipline Are Taking Delivery to the Sky

Some of the best stories start with an early bet. This week, one of ours is playing out at scale. Uber and Zipline (Techstars 2011) announced a partnership to bring drone delivery to millions of Americans, and Uber is making a strategic investment in Zipline as part of the deal.

It's a great moment for our community. Techstars made an early seed investment in Uber, years before it became the ride-hailing giant it is today. Zipline, meanwhile, built its autonomous delivery network from the ground up as a Techstars accelerator portfolio company. Now the two are working together to reshape how goods move through American cities.

What's in the Partnership

The plan is ambitious. Uber Eats customers will start seeing orders arrive by drone later this year, with deliveries landing in 5 to 10 minutes through a hybrid network that combines couriers, sidewalk robots, and drones. The companies are targeting one million drone deliveries a day by the end of 2029, expanding across Zipline's existing markets and into dozens of additional U.S. cities.

Why Zipline Is Built for This

Zipline operates on four continents, completes a delivery every 20 seconds, and has flown more than 135 million autonomous miles. It has completed over 2.7 million deliveries, totaling more than 20 million items, and serves more than 5,000 hospitals worldwide, work the company estimates saves 12,000 lives every year.

That track record is a big part of why this partnership matters. Zipline has already proven its technology can operate reliably and safely at scale, in healthcare settings where the stakes couldn't be higher. Bringing that same infrastructure to everyday food and retail delivery means faster orders, lower costs, and fewer emissions from traditional delivery vehicles.

A Techstars Story, From Two Directions

Watching a Techstars company and an early Techstars investment come together to redefine an entire industry is exactly the kind of outcome we work toward. Uber and Zipline are proof that big ideas can start small, and that the right partnership can turn a strong idea into something that reaches millions of people.

We'll be watching as this rolls out across new cities in the months ahead.