Drone delivery firm Manna has embarked on an ambitious expansion plan with its goal to be operating across Ireland by the end of the year.
The company, co-founded by Bobby Healy, specialises in home deliveries, bringing retail, food, drink and pharmacy products to doorsteps using drones.
The company, which boasts a 170-person workforce, operates in three cities across the world: Dublin, Helsinki and Dallas. This week, the firm said it surpassed 250,000 total deliveries last year after doubling its annual deliveries during 2025.
Manna said it delivered everything from books from Eason and clothing from Gym+Coffee to groceries, healthcare and pharmacy products during the year
Now, the chief technical officer of Manna, Alan Hicks, has said it would like to have operations across the country by the end of 2026.
“We would love to be all over Ireland by the end of the year,” Mr Hicks told attendees of University College Cork’s (UCC) Commerce Conference on Thursday.
Speaking on a panel at Cork County Hall, the CTO added, “It’s definitely doable. We have a lot of things falling into place, and the technology is really mature. We just passed our 250,000th delivery yesterday, and we’re continually scaling out our supply chain.”
Mr Hicks said the company delivers 5,000 deliveries a month in Blanchardstown, with more than 60,000 deliveries in total from its hub in Dublin 15.
“People in Dublin love this idea. We believe it is the future and anyone who sees it also believes that,” Mr Hicks told the conference of UCC students,
The event, marking the 44th annual conference organised by UCC’s Commerce Society, hosted academic staff, students and business professionals, with 150 people in attendance.
In addition to Mr Hicks, the conference also heard from Niall Horgan, co-founder of athleisure clothing brand Gym + Coffee, Katie Farrell of digital loyalty card platform Squid and Ruairí O’Donovan, Partner in Corporate M&A at Matheson.
Former Leinster player and Ireland Rugby Captain Jamie Heaslip was also in attendance and was joined in a panel on AI and fintech by Microsoft Ireland general manager Catherine Doyle, chief executive of An Post, David McRedmond, and Ciara Sheehan, founder of Orb Media. Having retired from rugby in 2018, Mr Heaslip is now the EMEA Alliances and Channels Growth Lead at Stripe.
The event, which is the country’s largest student-run annual conference, focused on future of business in Ireland under the theme “Éire 2030.”
