India's Airbound Bags $37M to Take on Trucks with Rocket-Like Drones, Greenoaks Leads Series A for 'Boeing of the Sky'

Airbound, an Indian startup building autonomous drones that weigh less than their cargo, has raised a $37 million Series A round led by Greenoaks with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed, and Humba Ventures.

Airbound, a three-year-old Indian startup building autonomous drones, has raised $37 million in a Series A round led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed, and Humba Ventures . The funding comes less than a year after the startup raised an $8.65 million seed round, bringing its total raised to nearly $50 million.

"We want to build towards a world where everything has cost parity with trucking," said founder and CEO Naman Pushp.

The startup is taking a fundamentally different approach to drone design. Conventional aircraft spend most of their energy carrying their own weight rather than payload, making flight expensive for smaller loads. Airbound's answer is to build vertical-flight drones designed to weigh less than the cargo they carry.

The TRT Drone

Airbound's current drone, called TRT, weighs approximately 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg) and can carry around 2.2 pounds (1 kg) of payload. Its next version, currently in development, is expected to weigh about 6.6 pounds and be able to carry up to 11 pounds. The startup uses a rocket-like, tail-sitter design that takes off and lands vertically in an upright position before transitioning to horizontal flight.

"That's the Boeing role the aircraft airlines everywhere rely on, not the airline itself," Pushp said, positioning Airbound as an aircraft manufacturer for other logistics networks to use.

13,000 Flights and Counting

Founded in 2023, Airbound has completed more than 13,000 autonomous flights across Bengaluru and Guntur. That includes more than 1,000 flights with the Narayana Health hospital network, transporting diagnostic samples between healthcare facilities. The partnership is expanding to include Narayana's new Banashankari hospital in Bengaluru, which was designed without an on-site diagnostic lab or blood bank and will instead rely on Airbound's drones for connectivity.

Three-City Drone Network

Airbound has signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh state government to create a drone delivery network connecting three cities, with an eventual target of 10,000 flights a day for retail, e-commerce, and healthcare deliveries. That daily flight target will require between 250 and 1,000 aircraft, depending on route lengths. The agreement does not involve a government contract or subsidy, with the state government working with Airbound on the regulatory framework needed to enable the network.

Here is the question this funding raises. Airbound is building drones that weigh less than their cargo and aims to make air delivery as cheap as trucking. When a startup rethinks the economics of flight from first principles, what new possibilities open up for logistics and last-mile delivery?

FAQ:

Q: What is Airbound's Series A funding amount and who led the round?
A: Airbound raised a $37 million Series A led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed, and Humba Ventures.

Q: What makes Airbound's drone design different from conventional aircraft?
A: Airbound's drones are designed to weigh less than the cargo they carry, reversing the conventional aircraft economics where most energy is spent carrying the aircraft's own weight.

Q: How many autonomous flights has Airbound completed?
A: Airbound has completed more than 13,000 autonomous flights across Bengaluru and Guntur, including over 1,000 with the Narayana Health hospital network.

Q: What is Airbound's vision for its drone network?
A: Airbound has signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government to create a three-city drone delivery network targeting 10,000 daily flights for retail, e-commerce, and healthcare deliveries.

Q: Who is Airbound's founder and CEO?
A: Naman Pushp is the founder and CEO of Airbound. He previously worked as an engineer at Tesla and founded a humanoid robotics startup.