Bengaluru-based aerospace startup Airbound has raised $37 million in a Series A round led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed and Humba Ventures.
The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate engineering, commercial-scale manufacturing and go-to-market initiatives.
Founded by Naman Pushp, Airbound is developing lightweight autonomous aircraft designed to transport people and goods at a lower cost than conventional aircraft.
That is what we’re building at Airbound,” said Naman Pushp, founder and CEO of Airbound.
Under the programme, the company plans to scale the network to 10,000 daily flights, catering to retail, ecommerce and healthcare deliveries.
Bengaluru-based aerospace startup Airbound has raised $37 million in a Series A round led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed and Humba Ventures.
The latest round takes Airbound’s total funding to nearly $50 million since its launch in 2023. The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate engineering, commercial-scale manufacturing and go-to-market initiatives.
Founded by Naman Pushp, Airbound is developing lightweight autonomous aircraft designed to transport people and goods at a lower cost than conventional aircraft.
The startup claims its aircraft can carry a single passenger or around 100 kg of cargo while significantly reducing the aircraft weight required to carry the payload. Its approach is aimed at lowering the economics of air-based transportation and making autonomous aerial delivery commercially viable.
“Better physics leads to better economics, which unlocks the potential to move people and goods for a fraction of a cent. That is what we’re building at Airbound,” said Naman Pushp, founder and CEO of Airbound.
Airbound has already completed more than 1,000 autonomous flights in partnership with Narayana Health, transporting diagnostic samples between healthcare facilities. The company said these deployments have reduced delivery times from hours to minutes.
Alongside the fundraise, Airbound has signed a commercial deployment agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government to build an autonomous drone delivery network connecting three cities.
Under the programme, the company plans to scale the network to 10,000 daily flights, catering to retail, ecommerce and healthcare deliveries. Airbound said the Andhra Pradesh deployment will serve as a model for expanding aerial delivery networks across India.
Airbound's long-term plans also include passenger transportation. The company aims to eventually use its aircraft for intercity travel, including a potential 300 km journey in around 20 minutes.
The startup is betting that advances in aircraft design, autonomy and materials science can make air transportation cheaper and expand the use of autonomous aircraft beyond conventional drone delivery.
