Founder and CEO Bobby Healy said that Manna has already delivered to around 400 homes within the first week of operations the Dublin neighbourhood.
Bobby Healy’s Manna has kicked off one of the world’s biggest drone delivery trials in Blanchardstown and has already bagged some big names in the food industry as partners, including Boojum.
One of Ireland’s best-known start-up companies, Manna Drone Delivery was founded by Healy in 2018 and has since been on a mission to disrupt the food delivery space and eliminate the need for human drivers. The company believes that this will significantly reduce wait times for deliveries, traffic on the roads and impact on the climate.
From pilot projects in Galway to now serving Balbriggan’s 35,000-strong community the latest Blanchardstown launch comes as the company also makes progress in the US market with an ongoing trial in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.
People are *driving* up to the new @MannaAero base in Dubin to ask us to enable their addresses for drone delivery. Never seen anything like this for pent-up demand of a product.
It’s nuts. We’ve now delivered to 1% of 40,000 homes in Dublin 15 in just our 1st week flying.
🚀🍔
— 𝘽𝙤𝙗𝙗𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙮 🇺🇦🇮🇪 (@realBobbyHealy) February 29, 2024
Manna announced earlier today (1 March) that Boojum, the popular Irish chain of Mexican fast-food, is the first restaurant in Blanchardstown that will see its food delivered to locals on drones.
Healy wrote on X that within the first week of operations in the 40,000 homes-strong Dublin “neighbourhood, Manna has made drone deliveries to around 400 homes.
“People are *driving* up to the new Manna base in Dubin [sic] to ask us to enable their addresses for drone delivery. Never seen anything like this for pent-up demand of a product. It’s nuts,” he said.
Last week, he also shared that Manna was the top app in the food delivery category on both the Apple and Android app stores, ahead of established traditional players such as Just Eat and Deliveroo. “Drone delivery is real people. And Ireland is in the lead,” Healy said at the time.
We’re announcing our first restaurant partner in blanchardstown, and it’s the motherload! pic.twitter.com/kchnmFdFZA
— Manna Drone Delivery (@MannaAero) March 1, 2024
In September, Manna made it to the LinkedIn top Irish start-ups list for the third year in a row after topping the inaugural list in 2021. Healy was also one of the most looked-up-to founders in the Irish start-up ecosystem based on comments from SiliconRepublic.com Start-up of the Week responses.
“Bobby has not only normalised the use of drones in day-to-day life but has made them an essential part of the landscape,” said Julie Garland, CEO and founder of drone training and certification start-up Avtrain.
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