Irish Startup Manna Simulates Blood Delivery Between Dublin Hospitals

A drone flew from the Rotunda to Connolly Hospital in Dublin today. No blood was on board. The point was to show what happens when it is.

Two Minutes Instead of Thirty

The Rotunda Hospital is one of the busiest maternity hospitals in Europe. Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown serves a rapidly growing population in Dublin’s northwest. Between them, a few miles of Dublin road that during peak hours can swallow a 30-minute window before an ambulance or a courier van gets through.

Today, Manna Air Delivery simulated that route by drone.

No live blood was transported. This was a demonstration flight, a proof of concept designed to show regulators, clinicians, and the public what is now technically possible before the regulatory framework catches up to the hardware.

John O’Loughlin, Laboratory Manager at the Rotunda, framed what is at stake clearly. Moving blood, samples, and critical supplies between hospitals at speed could transform how Ireland supports both emergency and planned care.

The NHS in the UK already has data on what that transformation looks like in practice. Blood sample transport between Guy’s Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital in London dropped from over 30 minutes by road to under 2 minutes by drone. In Dorset, drones serving 13 GP surgeries cut average delivery time by 83% compared to van routes. Ireland is watching those numbers and Manna is the company positioned to replicate them.

The Aircraft Behind the Simulation

Manna’s delivery drones are not hobby quadcopters with a cargo hook attached. They are purpose-built autonomous aircraft developed over seven years and now operating at commercial scale across Dublin’s suburbs.

Each aircraft weighs 51 lbs, carries a payload of up to 9 lbs, and cruises at up to 50 mph. Average delivery time across Manna’s consumer operations is 2 minutes and 40 seconds from dispatch to drop.

That figure, 5.6 times faster than traditional road delivery, is not a lab result. It is the operational average across more than 250,000 completed flights in real Irish suburban conditions.

The aircraft runs eight motors, any four of which are sufficient to maintain flight, making single-point motor failure a non-event rather than an emergency. Flight computers and batteries carry redundancy. An emergency parachute is built in and has been deployed once across the entire 250,000-flight history.

The drones operate in 97% of Irish weather conditions, handling wind speeds up to 22 mph and heavy rainfall. For a country whose weather is as reliable as a coin toss, that operational availability figure matters enormously.

On the noise front, Manna deployed new quieter propellers across its fleet in late 2025 following regulatory engagement with the Irish Aviation Authority. The current fleet produces 59 decibels in flight, quieter than a normal conversation and comparable to background traffic noise.

What Manna Actually Is Right Now

This hospital simulation is a glimpse of where Manna wants to go. But where Manna already is deserves equal attention.

The company, founded in 2019 and built entirely in Ireland, has completed more than 250,000 drone deliveries across Dublin and Cork. It holds a full Large Unmanned Aircraft Operator Certificate from the IAA, meaning it does not require flight plan approval from air traffic control for its Dublin operations, a regulatory achievement that took years to earn.

Its investors include Tapestry VC, Molten Ventures, Coca-Cola, and Dynamo Ventures, and it raised $30 million in a funding round last year.

Two weeks ago, Manna announced a partnership with Uber to bring drone delivery to Uber’s European platform, launching first in Ireland before expanding to other European cities. That partnership gives Manna access to Uber’s merchant and consumer network at a scale no Irish startup has approached before.

Last year, a separate Manna project in collaboration with the HSE, the National Ambulance Service, and Community First Responders demonstrated defibrillator delivery to a home address in under two minutes. A Swedish study found drones beat ambulances to cardiac arrest patients 70% of the time, cutting response time by an average of 3.4 minutes. If that rate holds in Ireland, the modelling suggests more than 900 lives saved annually.

DroneXL’s Take

Here is what strikes me about this story.

Manna started by delivering pizza and coffee to Dublin suburbs. Today it is simulating blood transport between hospitals. That is not a pivot. That is a company methodically building the operational credibility, the regulatory trust, and the community track record needed to expand into missions where the stakes are categorically higher.

The defibrillator project last year was the proof of concept for emergency medical delivery. Today’s hospital simulation is the proof of concept for clinical logistics. The next step, pending regulatory approval, is live hospital-to-hospital operations. That progression is deliberate and it is smart.

I will be direct about the US comparison because it is impossible not to make. The NHS already has drone blood delivery operating between London hospitals. Ireland is simulating it. The FAA has spent years debating frameworks while other countries are running flight hours and collecting outcome data. The gap between where America’s regulatory conversation is and where Ireland’s operational reality is getting wider, not narrower.

Ireland is a small country with a serious drone company, a cooperative regulatory environment, and real clinical partners willing to put their names on this technology. That combination is rarer than it sounds.

The blood is not in the drone yet. But today in Dublin, everyone involved moved a step closer to the day when it will be.

Photo credit: Manna