Indian drone startup Airbound secures $8.65M seed funding
The company’s aim is to provide access to essential items, regardless of location, with a particular initial emphasis on underserved regions where traditional logistics infrastructure is limited.
Airbound, an autonomous Bengaluru-based delivery logistics firm specializing in blended-wing-body aircraft, has announced USD 8.65 million in seed funding and a pilot partnership with Narayana Health.
The round was led by Lachy Groom, co-founder of Physical Intelligence, with participation from Humba Ventures and continued participation from Lightspeed. This seed round also includes investment from senior leaders at Tesla, SpaceX, and Anduril, reflecting deep conviction from operators who have scaled complex hardware and autonomy programs, according to a media release.
Airbound’s proprietary carbon fiber manufacturing process has enabled rapid production, with the company now producing crafts everyday. The craft features a blended-wing-body with a vertical lift tail-sitter design, achieving a payload-to-aircraft mass ratio of 1kg-to-1.5kg. The combination of the tailsitter configuration with a BWB enables vertical takeoff and landing while maintaining the aerodynamic efficiency of fixed-wing flight, avoiding the performance penalties that affect tilt-rotor and quadplane aircraft designs.
“We are grateful to our incoming and current investors for supporting our vision to make the cost of delivery negligible,” said Naman Pushp, Founder and CEO of Airbound. “The healthcare sector represents the perfect testing ground for our technology because it demands both reliability and efficiency. Our partnership with Narayana Health validates that our approach can handle the most critical delivery requirements while demonstrating the cost advantages that will make our service accessible globally.”
The company’s aim is to provide access to essential items, regardless of location, with a particular initial emphasis on underserved regions where traditional logistics infrastructure is limited, the media release said.
“Airbound’s approach to drone delivery addresses fundamental physics and economics problems that have limited the scalability of existing solutions,” said Lachy Groom, co-founder of Physical Intelligence. “Their blended-wing-body design and manufacturing capabilities position them to achieve the cost efficiency needed to make drone delivery truly viable for a wide range of applications.”
“At Narayana Health, we are constantly exploring innovative solutions to enhance patient care and operational efficiency,” said Dr Devi Shetty, Founder and Chairman, Narayana Health. “Our partnership with Airbound allows us to pilot a promising technology that could significantly improve the speed and reliability of medical deliveries.”
After a funding round last November, Airbound has now secured over USD 10 million in total funding. This seed funding enables Airbound to scale its manufacturing capabilities and expand its operations beyond just medical delivery, the company said.
