Drone maker Airbound raises $8.65 mn, aims for market launch in 2026

Bengaluru-based autonomous logistics startup Airbound has raised $8.65 million in a seed round led by Lachy Groom, cofounder of Physical Intelligence, with participation from Humba Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and senior leaders from Tesla, Anduril, and Ather Energy. This takes the company's total funding to over $10 million.

The funds will be deployed to scale up manufacturing, expand operations beyond medical logistics, and refine its drone technology ahead of a larger commercial rollout in 2026.

"It's really a push on manufacturing and scale," founder and CEO Naman Pushp told CNBC-TV18. "These drones fly beautifully, but for them to have real impact, we need to ramp up production and flight volumes. The goal is to prove that our hypothesis works, and we're already seeing strong customer excitement."

Airbound has developed a tail-sitter aircraft that takes off vertically like a rocket and transitions to forward flight like a plane.

Built with an ultra-light carbon fibre frame weighing just 1.5 kg, the drone can carry a 1 kg payload, promising delivery costs that are up to a twentieth of the conventional methods and cheaper than current drone delivery systems.

The company's unique blended-wing-body design uses two propellers instead of the standard quadcopter setup, for greater aerodynamic efficiency and longer range.

Airbound is currently awaiting regulatory clearances for wider deployment. As part of its proof of concept, it has partnered with Narayana Health for a three-month pilot program that includes up to 10 medical deliveries per day, transporting blood samples, test kits, and essential supplies.

"We're not focused on just getting early deliveries for headlines," he said. "We're building something that immediately changes how our customers operate — innovation that translates into real, scalable impact."Read about our editorial guidelines and ethics policy