Imagine craving your morning coffee—and having it delivered by drone within three minutes. In select suburbs of Dublin, that’s already a reality, thanks to Manna, a cutting-edge drone delivery startup founded by Irish entrepreneur Bobby Healy. With just $60 million in total funding and an ambitious vision, Manna is not just flying—it’s soaring past expectations.
While tech giants like Amazon, Alphabet’s Wing, and unicorn Zipline have poured hundreds of millions into drone logistics, Healy’s lean and fiercely focused startup is the only one claiming profitability per delivery. “It’s not about pouring money into the skies,” Healy tells Voke. “It’s about building a reliable, cost-efficient model that regulators and customers trust.”
Born in Dublin, Built for Europe
Launched in 2020, Manna is quickly making a name for itself, completing 200,000+ deliveries to date. Coffee is the top item—hot and tethered gently into backyards within minutes. Each drone operates autonomously, monitored remotely, and is designed for speed and efficiency. In Dublin, Manna drones can complete eight deliveries per hour, a figure that dwarfs the performance of bulkier systems from larger players.
The secret? Smart “hot-swappable” batteries, minimal human labor, and precision logistics. Each Manna base requires only a small team to achieve 25–30 deliveries an hour, with an average cost of just $4 per drop. Healy believes that with scale, that could go down to $1.
The European Advantage
While U.S. drone startups are held back by slow regulatory rollouts from the FAA, Manna is capitalizing on Europe’s progressive drone framework. Currently operating in Dublin and Finland’s city of Espoo, the company plans to scale across Europe aggressively in 2025. With the EU’s unified regulations and Manna’s experience, Healy sees the continent as fertile ground for explosive growth.
And the numbers back him up. Already, 42% of households in Manna’s existing zones have used the service at least once. The goal for this year? 1.5 million deliveries.
Strategic Partnerships and App Integration
Manna’s growth strategy now hinges on partnering with global delivery platforms. In 2024 alone, it has inked deals with Wolt (DoorDash’s international wing) and Just Eat. An unnamed third top-tier platform is reportedly on the horizon—giving Manna potential access to billions of users worldwide.
“It’s an open goal now for us,” says Healy. “Working with apps instead of onboarding retailers one by one allows us to scale at speed”
A Founder’s Bold Vision
Bobby Healy isn’t your typical drone entrepreneur. A former founder of CarTrawler, he brings a sharp focus on unit economics and real-world use cases over flashy technology demos. In his view, the future isn’t about flying taxis or urban sci-fi. It’s about hyperlocal convenience—quick, quiet, and carbon-efficient.
What’s next? Eleven drone bases in Dublin alone, expansion deeper into Europe, and a delivery model that may soon outpace any traditional courier service in suburban areas.
As drone delivery becomes more mainstream, Manna may be the David that outmaneuvers a field full of Goliaths—proof that in tech, agility, and innovation still trump brute force.
