The Dublin-based drone delivery company, founded and led by Bobby Healy, has now raised $110m in total. Investors in the new Series B round include Cathie Wood\u2019s Ark Invest\n<\/p>\n
It brings to $110m the amount raised by the company, founded and led by Dubliner Bobby Healy.<\/p>\n
The company is advertising new jobs in robotics, software engineering, aviation and regulatory functions at its Irish base, where it designs, builds and operates its drones and software, and in the US.<\/p>\n
Manna currently employs 170 people.<\/p>\n
Investors in the Series B round include ARK Invest, associated with celebrity investor Cathie Wood and known for backing companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Tesla and SpaceX. Other investors include the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (Isif) and Schooner Capital, as well as existing investors Coca-Cola HBC, Molten Ventures and Enterprise Ireland.<\/p>\n
Manna says that it has completed more than 250,000 regulated drone flights. Over the past seven years, Manna has operated across Ireland in Blanchardstown, Balbriggan, Moneygall, Oranmore and Cork, as well as internationally in Texas and Finland. The company has completed over 250,000 deliveries, including 60,000 in Blanchardstown over two years.<\/p>\n
Its most popular delivery items are hot drinks and fast food, while it also delivers books, some medical supplies and clothing. The company says that it recently simulated hospital sample transport with The Rotunda Hospital.<\/p>\n
It has been focused on expanding services into Dundrum, Glasnevin and other parts of Ireland, but has been restricted by lengthy planning processes and complaints about noise.<\/p>\n
In October, it was refused planning retention permission for a base it was using at Blanchardstown\u2019s Junction 6 with Fingal County Council ruling that there was “insufficient details\u201d on potential noise pollution and that the physical set-up used by Manna resembled \u201cvisual clutter\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last year, the Government published a framework document aimed at setting out clearer conditions for commercial drone operators in Ireland.<\/p>\n
The framework document, which includes potential fines for drone operators that don\u2019t adhere to noise, privacy and flightpath regulations, proposed a new \u2018U-space\u2019 system for high-density drone use areas such as Dublin city to \u201cmitigate concerns related to privacy, security, noise and safety\u201d.<\/p>\n
Enterprise Trade and Employment Minister Peter Burke welcomed the company\u2019s Series B funding announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis represents a powerful endorsement of Ireland\u2019s standing as a global centre for innovation and advanced manufacturing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe creation of so many highly-skilled positions across robotics, software engineering, aviation and regulatory disciplines underscores the depth and quality of Ireland\u2019s Stem talent base and the ability of indigenous Irish firms to compete on the global stage in pioneering sectors such as autonomous aviation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin Sherry, executive director at Enterprise Ireland, said: \u201cWe are excited to continue partnering with the company as it accelerates its international expansion, substantially increasing its employment in Ireland. Manna is a highly dynamic and ambitious company, led by serial entrepreneurs building a world class delivery platform from Ireland which is focused on deployment across global markets. Enterprise Ireland\u2019s continued investment reflects its focus on supporting bold founders with ambition to scale internationally from an Irish base. Manna is a standout example of an Irish company with clear global growth opportunities driven from an Irish headquarters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebekah Brady, interim director at the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (Isif) said: \u201cIsif is committed to supporting Manna as part of our mandate to invest commercially in ways that deliver long-term economic impact for Ireland and align with our focus on scaling indigenous businesses. Manna\u2019s continued expansion demonstrates the global potential of innovative Irish-founded companies operating at the forefront of autonomous aviation, while creating high-quality Stem employment in Ireland and scaling internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dublin-based drone delivery company, founded and led by Bobby Healy, has now raised $110m in total. Investors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8819,61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-376462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-adrian-weckler","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}