Airbound Secures $37 Million in Series A Funding to Launch 10,000 Daily Drone Flights in Andhra Pradesh
Bengaluru Startup Airbound Secures $37 Million in Series A Funding
Bengaluru-based aerospace startup Airbound has successfully closed a $37 million Series A funding round as of August 25, 2026. The funding round was led by Greenoaks with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed, and Humba Ventures. Since its launch in March 2023, Airbound has raised nearly $50 million.
Innovative Aircraft Design
Airbound specializes in designing and manufacturing a blended-wing-body tailsitter aircraft, which is capable of vertical takeoff and cruising on fixed wings. The current model, V1, weighs 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) and can carry a payload of 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). This results in a payload-to-aircraft ratio that is three times better than the industry standard of 4:1. The airframe measures 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) in span and weighs approximately 130 grams (4.6 ounces) before accounting for motors and electronics. The company has developed its RUDRA fleet ground control system in-house, allowing a single operator to manage over 100 aircraft with real-time deconfliction.
Delivery Challenges in India
Naman Pushp, founder and CEO of Airbound, highlighted the challenges of delivery logistics in India, stating, “The bar for delivery in India is high. The benchmark is 10 minutes to your doorstep, at an extremely low cost. That’s the complexity here. If you can build something that works in India, it tends to work anywhere.”
Narayana Health Drone Delivery Corridor
Airbound has conducted over 13,000 autonomous missions without any failures, supporting Narayana Health, which is India’s fourth largest hospital network. The first commercial drone delivery corridor spans 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) in Bengaluru, connecting the Chandapura Clinic and Narayana Health City in Electronic City. This corridor has been operational since January 2026, with each aircraft capable of carrying up to 40 diagnostic samples per flight, completing 10 round trips daily. Following the launch, Narayana Health discontinued ground transfers along this route within a week. A second corridor between Electronic City and Banashankari is currently in development.
Andhra Pradesh Drone Delivery Network
In addition to its operations in Bengaluru, Airbound has signed an agreement with the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to establish an aerial delivery network across three districts, aiming for a scale of 10,000 flights per day. This network will cater to retail, e-commerce, and healthcare deliveries. The company has increased its production capacity from two aircraft per month to two per day within a year, with a target of reaching 20 aircraft per day.
Neil Shah, a partner at Greenoaks, commented on the innovation brought by Airbound, stating, “Moving goods has always forced a choice between fast and cheap. Trucks are cheap and slow, planes are fast and expensive, and nothing has broken the trade-off in more than a century. Airbound does.”