South San Francisco Podcast S3E4 - Zipline

This City of South San Francisco podcast episode, part of the Biotech and Beyond speaker series held on January 9, 2026, featured a fireside chat with Kenan Hay Robeck, co-founder and CTO of Zipline, a drone delivery company headquartered in South San Francisco. The discussion focused on Zipline's innovative drone delivery platform, which began with healthcare logistics such as blood and vaccine delivery in Rwanda and has expanded globally to eight countries. The company highlighted its local presence with multiple facilities in South San Francisco, emphasizing the importance of the area's talent pool and industrial space for their operations. The conversation also covered Zipline's environmental benefits, operational reliability in severe weather, and potential applications in healthcare delivery, emergency response, and even food and auto parts delivery. While no specific procurement contracts or budget allocations were discussed, the meeting underscored Zipline's role in advancing drone delivery infrastructure and public safety initiatives in the city, including the city's own drone as a first responder program.