Manna, the Irish-founded autonomous delivery firm, announced a major expansion into the United States on Wednesday, identifying Tulsa, Oklahoma as the focal point for its initial large-scale operations. The company said it expects 90% of Tulsans to be able to place orders for delivery by drone within the next year.
Executive chairman Kenny Jacobs, who joined the company this week and previously led Dublin Airport as well as Ryanair's marketing, described the American southwest - notably Oklahoma, Texas and neighboring states - as the likely "battleground" for proving the commercial viability of drone delivery at scale. Jacobs spoke from the launch of Manna's first full-scale U.S. operation.
Under the plan laid out by Jacobs, Manna will begin flying customer orders within the next two months and aims to operate from 40 launch bases across Tulsa by mid-2027. He emphasized that the company sees the technology itself as proven, and said the immediate priority is commercial scalability - specifically how rapidly it can stand up bases and move a variety of goods through the network.
Manna already has partnership agreements with two major delivery platforms, DoorDash and Uber Eats, and the company intends to use those relationships as part of its U.S. push. In describing the competitive landscape, Manna positions itself against other drone delivery operators active or seeking to grow in the U.S. market, including Zipline, Alphabet's Wing and Amazon's Prime Air.
The firm has a track record of operations in Ireland, where it has completed more than 300,000 deliveries. However, Manna recently paused services in its home market, citing the lack of clear national planning regulations as the reason for the suspension. Jacobs indicated that he does not expect comparable regulatory roadblocks in the United States.
On questions of capital intensity and rollout speed, Jacobs highlighted that each local launch site is compact - no larger than four car parking spaces - which allows the company to scale with relatively low capital expenditure per base. Manna raised $50 million in Series B funding earlier this year to support its expansion plans.
Looking beyond the immediate U.S. deployment, the company has signalled ambitions to expand into Britain by early 2028 and to press into the Middle East, with the United Arab Emirates flagged as a possible next step that could come ahead of the U.K. move.
Context and next steps
- Manna will begin flying in Tulsa within two months and targets 40 bases there by mid-2027.
- The company says 90% of Tulsa residents should be within reach of drone delivery within a year.
- Manna has announced partnerships with DoorDash and Uber Eats and aims to compete with other drone delivery services operating in the U.S.