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India’s Airbound has raised USD 37 million in Series A funding to make drone logistics compete with trucking. Greenoaks led the round on August 24, with DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed, and Humba Ventures joining.
The Bengaluru startup plans to use the capital for aircraft development and commercial expansion. Its rocket-like drones aim to move smaller shipments faster while targeting trucking-level costs.
Founded in 2023, Airbound has now raised nearly USD 50 million through its latest funding round. The company uses autonomous, vertical-flight aircraft that launch upright before switching into horizontal flight.
Founder and CEO Naman Pushp said, “We want to build towards a world where everything has cost parity with trucking.”
Airbound’s current TRT drone weighs about 3.3 pounds and carries nearly 2.2 pounds of cargo. A larger model under development could carry up to 11 pounds while weighing about 6.6 pounds. This design aims to reduce the energy spent carrying the aircraft itself.
The startup has completed more than 13,000 autonomous flights across Bengaluru and Guntur. More than 1,000 flights supported Narayana Health by moving diagnostic samples between facilities. One route takes around seven minutes by drone, compared with three to five hours through road transport.
Airbound also plans a three-city drone network in Andhra Pradesh for healthcare, retail, and e-commerce deliveries. The proposed network could eventually handle 10,000 flights daily with hundreds of aircraft.
Regulation remains the biggest challenge for Airbound’s expansion. The startup needs beyond-visual-line-of-sight approvals to operate delivery networks at commercial scale. Airbound remains broadly pre-revenue despite having more than 150 employees.
Pushp said the long-term ambition focuses on becoming an aircraft supplier for logistics networks. He described the strategy as “the Boeing role” rather than becoming another delivery operator.
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