400 new jobs are understood to be down as 300 in Ireland and 100 in the US, bringing the total to over 570.
Dublin-based Manna Air Delivery, Bobby Healy’s drone delivery company, has officially secured a $50m Series B funding round and announced plans to create 400 new jobs across Ireland and the US.
The round, which brings the total investment in the company to $110m, sees the funding of ARK Invest – a fund known for supporting OpenAI, Anthropic, Tesla and SpaceX – Boston-based Schooner Capital and Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), as well as existing investors Enterprise Ireland, Coca-Cola HBC and Molten Ventures.
Today’s (1 April) announcement confirms information first reported last week by Sky News City editor Mark Kleinman, who said Manna was close to completing the round, with ISIF, ARK Invest and Schooner Capital among the backers.
The 400 new roles will include robotics, software engineering, mechanical engineering, flight operations, ground operations and control jobs, with a strong focus on STEM disciplines. The positions will be spread across Manna’s Irish operations and its growing US operations, bringing the company’s total headcount from 170 to more than 570.
Roles in Ireland are understood to be 300, and 100 in the US. In Ireland, the roles are expected to be split between those working in the production and development of drones, and aircraft operators at operational bases.
“Ireland is the base for everything we do. We design and build our drones here, we develop our software here, and we’ve spent seven years developing our operations in communities across the country,” said Bobby Healy, CEO and founder of Manna. “These 400 new roles are top STEM positions and we are competing with some of the biggest companies in the world and winning.”
Manna, founded in 2019, designs, manufactures and operates its drones and software in Ireland. The company says it has completed more than 250,000 drone flights, including 60,000 in Blanchardstown.
It currently operates in Dublin (Blanchardstown), Balbriggan, Moneygall, Oranmore and Cork, as well as internationally in Texas and Finland. The company delivers food, clothing, books and over-the-counter medicine, and recently modeled hospital transport through The Rotunda Hospital. Its main competitors include Wing and Zipline.
Visiting Manna’s headquarters in Dublin today, where the company designs, builds and flies its drones, Minister for Business, Trade and Employment Peter Burke, TD welcomed the announcement saying it represented “a strong endorsement of Ireland’s position as a global center for innovation and advanced manufacturing”.
“The creation of multi-skilled positions across robotics, software engineering, aerospace and regulatory systems underlines the depth and quality of Ireland’s STEM talent base.”
Rebekah Brady, interim director at ISIF, said the fund was “committed to supporting Manna as part of our mandate to invest in markets in ways that deliver long-term economic impact in Ireland”.
Kevin Sherry, managing director at Enterprise Ireland, described Manna as “an outstanding example of an Irish company with clear global growth opportunities driven from an Irish headquarters”.
One investor source cited in Kleinman’s original report for Sky News suggested that a successful conclusion to the round could herald a further, larger capital injection, so Manna remains one to watch.
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