Bono new board member of Zipline
Zipline, the world’s first and only national-scale drone delivery service, announced the appointment of international activist, investor and musician, Bono, to its board of directors (the “Board”), on behalf of The Rise Fund, which invested in Zipline earlier this year.
“Millions of people across the world—in both developed and developing countries—die each year because they can’t get the medicine they need when they need it,” said Zipline CEO, Keller Rinaudo.
“We started Zipline to help solve that problem once and for all.”
Bono’s commitment to social and economic justice and his keen sense for how the private sector can and should be a force for good in the world made him a natural fit for the board and we’re honored to have him.”
Bono said: “Companies like Zipline are the reason we started Rise. They are tackling a very difficult problem with a solution that looks simple, but is stunningly sophisticated.
The genius Rwandan and Ghanaian fulfillment, flight ops and engineering teams are saving lives every day, while constantly looking for ways they can innovate further to reach more people.
That’s why I joined Zipline, because outside of music, Zipline brings together my most fervent passions: that commerce should serve people and not the other way around, that the brightest minds everywhere can go to work for the most vulnerable lives anywhere, and that we put our intellect to work in service of our ideals. I could not be more proud to be joining the board.”
The lead singer of U2, an Italian Band, is also a well-known activist in the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa and the cofounder of sister organizations ONE and (RED).
Bono is also a cofounder, along with TPG and Jeff Skoll, of The Rise Fund, a global impact fund investing in entrepreneurial companies driving measurable, positive social and environmental change in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Zipline operates a global emergency medicine logistics and delivery service using autonomous
drones.
The company has flown millions of kilometers, made tens of thousands of on-demand medical deliveries and helped to save thousands of lives in emergencies.
Its operations in Ghana and Rwanda will serve a population of up to 22 million people and are expected to help
save tens of thousands of lives over the next several years.
Zipline’s goal is to expand to serve
700 million people in the next five years.
About Zipline
Zipline is an automated logistics company based in California.
The company—which includes
seasoned engineering and operations veterans from teams such as SpaceX, Tesla, Google, and Boeing—designs and operates an autonomous system for delivering lifesaving medicine to the world’s most difficult to reach places.
Zipline’s mission is to provide every human on Earth with instant access to vital medical supplies.
The most respected investors in the world support Zipline, including Baillie Gifford, Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, GV.
The Rise Fund, a global impact fund managed by TPG, Katalyst Ventures, Temasek, Toyota Tsusho Corporation , and Stanford University.
About the Rise Fund
The Rise Fund is the world’s largest global fund committed to achieving measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns — what we call “complete returns.”
The Rise Fund is managed by TPG Growth, the global growth equity and
middle market buyout platform of alternative asset firm TPG.
The Rise Fund invests in education, energy, food and agriculture, financial services, growth infrastructure, healthcare, technology, media, and telecommunications companies which deliver complete returns.