Manna begins US expansion after Irish departure

Bobby Healy, founder and chief executive of Manna. Picture: Larry Cummins

Irish drone delivery firm Manna has begun its push into new parts of the American south-west after announcing its decision to halt operations in Ireland.

The company said 90% of residents in Tulsa, Oklahoma, would be able to order deliveries by autonomous drone within the next year.

The Bobby Healy-founded start-up will start flying orders from partners such as DoorDash, McDonald's, and Uber Eats within the next two months and operate from 40 bases across Oklahoma's second most populous city by mid-2027, new executive chairman Kenny Jacobs said.

"This part of the US, Oklahoma, Texas, states around here will really be the battleground for scaling up and proving all types of drone delivery globally," Jacobs told Reuters from the launch of the company's first full-scale US operation.

"The technology is proven. Now it's about the commercial scalability and showing how quickly you can open up bases and deliver all types of things," added Jacobs.

Manna, which is seeking to compete with Zipline, Alphabet's Wing, Amazon's Prime Air and other start-ups in the US, has completed more than 300,000 deliveries, mainly in Ireland, where it recently paused services, citing the absence of clear national planning regulations.

Jacobs anticipates no such hurdles in the US and said he would be amazed if Manna did not expand into another US city this year, citing other parts of Oklahoma, nearby Texas and Arizona as attractive destinations.

The company can scale quickly at a low capital expenditure cost per base, given each local launch site is no bigger than the size of four car parking spaces, Jacobs said.

Manna, which raised $50m in Series B funding earlier this year, hopes to expand into Britain by early 2028, with its plans to begin pushing into the Middle East in the United Arab Emirates potentially progressing before that, Jacobs added.

The former chief executive of DAA, Kenny Jacobs, joined Manna last week, with the firm also setting its sights on expansion in the UK.

Last month, Manna announced it would cease drone deliveries in Ireland, citing regulatory and planning roadblocks. The company said the move represented a strategic pause rather than a permanent withdrawal from Ireland, adding it remained confident drone delivery could play “an important role in strengthening communities”.

Founded in 2018, Manna has completed more than 300,000 deliveries. Investors include ARK Invest, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Schooner Capital, Coca-Cola HBC and Molten Ventures.

Reuters