The corporate started US trials for its drones in 2023 and earlier this yr, introduced plans for trials in Finland.
Irish drone supply firm Manna has raised $30m, bringing the overall raised to $60m.
The newest funding spherical was led by Tapestry VC and Molten Ventures, with participation from Coca-Cola, Dynamo Ventures and others.
Molten Ventures, beforehand named Draper Esprit, led a Collection A spherical funding in Manna in 2021 that noticed the corporate increase $25m. The drone supply start-up additionally struck a cope with Coca-Cola in 2023.
Manna was based in 2018 by Bobby Healy. The corporate needs to disrupt the meals supply area utilizing drones to eradicate the necessity for human drivers and cut back carbon emissions.
Healy stated the newest funding permits the corporate to speed up its mission to make drone supply “the most secure, most sustainable and most handy selection for communities worldwide”.
“From unbiased retailers like Lindough’s Pizza and Kahuna Pops to well-known Irish manufacturers like Eason’s, Boojum and Eddie Rocket’s, we’re serving to retailers attain extra prospects in a approach that’s each environment friendly and environmentally accountable and simply higher for communities.”
Patrick Murphy, companion at Tapestry VC, stated Manna continues to “redefine last-mile supply”.
“Their operational developments and world enlargement exhibit the scalability of their mannequin, which is actually transformative for communities and companies alike. Bobby has assembled a prime class crew to execute on this chance.”
Manna drones have been trialled in Eire since 2019 with pilots operating in a number of Irish cities together with Oranmore in Galway and Balbriggan and Blanchardstown in Dublin.
It additionally started US trials in 2023 and, originally of 2025, Manna introduced plans to start out a trial in Espoo in Finland.
In September final yr, Manna made the LinkedIn prime Irish start-ups checklist, making its fourth consecutive look since topping the inaugural rankings in 2021.
In 2023, Healy spoke to For Tech’s Sake in regards to the engineering challenges that include drone supply. “Rain is straightforward, it’s nearly ensuring all the pieces is roofed and coated,” he stated.
“Wind is troublesome, not due to the controllability of the plane – you possibly can fly in brutal climate with the kind of design that we’ve got – it’s about vitality, it’s about how a lot vitality do you have to fly into a powerful headwind and get dwelling safely with sufficient within the tank.”
Chickening out
Drone supply has grown into a significant business lately. Outdoors of Manna’s success, Alphabet has its personal drone firm, Wing, which has been transporting medical provides to south Dublin hospitals and pressing blood samples for the NHS.
One other Irish participant is Avtrain, a drone coaching and certification start-up based by Julie Garland that counts Manna amongst its shoppers.
And whereas drone supply is a worldwide enterprise, Eire has been heralded as a haven for drone applied sciences from dwelling and overseas.
Talking to SiliconRepublic.com in 2023, Healy stated Eire has stood out for its response to the wants of the drone business with its “pro-business” perspective. “If we have been from Lithuania, Poland or wherever, as an organization, Eire would nonetheless be the place we’d be working as a result of it’s received all the pieces we want.”
Don’t miss out on the information you have to succeed. Join the Each day Temporary, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech information.
