Airbound, a drone company based in India, has secured $8.65 million in seed investment, with Physical Intelligence co-founder Lachy Groom leading the round. The company is launching a drone delivery trial with a private hospital and is working toward achieving deliveries for just one cent using its ultra-light, blended-wing-body drones.
The seed funding also saw contributions from Humba Ventures, existing backer Lightspeed Venture Partners, and executives from Tesla, SpaceX, and Anduril.
Airbound was established in 2020 by Naman Pushp, who was only 15 at the time and is now 20. The company has created a drone with a tail-sitter design—meaning it stands upright for takeoff like a rocket—and a carbon fiber body. The goal is to deliver packages at costs up to 20 times lower than traditional methods and much less than current drone delivery options. The drone features a blended-wing-body design with two propellers, instead of the usual quadcopter setup, allowing it to launch vertically and then fly like an airplane.
Pushp, the founder and CEO, explained in an interview that Airbound’s mission is to achieve one-cent deliveries by reimagining the energy required for transporting goods.
Pushp told TechCrunch that in India, electric two-wheelers are commonly used to deliver loads under 3 kilograms, even though these vehicles weigh about 150 kilograms (331 pounds) and consume roughly ₹2 (about $0.02) in energy per kilometer. Airbound’s TRT drone, designed specifically for lightweight deliveries and eliminating the need for a driver, aims to reduce the total transport weight by about 30 times. This innovation could bring the energy cost down to as little as 10 paise (about $0.001) per kilometer, resulting in a 20-fold reduction in energy expenses and making one-cent drone delivery a realistic goal.
“There’s a huge gap between what drones are capable of now and their potential,” Pushp said. “Currently, you need a four-kilogram drone to carry a one-kilogram load, which is just crazy to me. The range metric doesn’t make sense, and drones lack aerodynamic efficiency at the moment.”
According to Pushp, the rocket-inspired, blended-wing design of their aircraft removes the need for extra propellers and heavy moving components, boosting aerodynamic efficiency compared to standard quadcopters. By not having propellers that disrupt airflow over the wings, the drone achieves a better lift-to-drag ratio, which lowers the thrust needed to stay airborne and makes forward flight much more energy efficient.
The initial version of Airbound’s drone weighs 3.3 pounds and can transport up to 2.2 pounds. The company’s next model aims to carry a 6.6-pound payload while the drone itself weighs only 2.6 pounds.
A prototype of the second-generation drone is expected to be ready and operational by the middle of next year, with full-scale production planned for the first quarter of 2027, according to Pushp.
“In the world of autonomous logistics, it all comes down to physics—efficiency and weight are everything. If your system is lighter and more efficient than the competition, you come out ahead,” Pushp stated.
Pushp started developing Airbound during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, inspired by a video about Zipline, a company specializing in on-demand drone deliveries. He entered an early prototype—constructed from 2D cutouts joined with toothpicks and tape, then sanded to mimic a fiberglass shell—into a hackathon, where he won a $500 prize. This experience led him to apply to Y Combinator, though he wasn’t accepted. Instead, he received a $1,000 grant from the 1517 Fund in 2021, followed by $25,000 from Grad Capital and a $12,000 grant from Emergent Ventures.
At age 17, Pushp was offered a term sheet from Lightspeed but waited until after turning 18 to sign it. “That was the first legally binding contract I ever signed,” he remembered.
The drone is powered by lithium-ion batteries, rather than the more commonly used lithium-polymer packs. Pushp noted that lithium-ion batteries typically last for 500 to 800 cycles, while lithium-polymer batteries usually last between 100 and 200 cycles.
“Battery replacement is actually the largest ongoing expense for operating these drones,” he explained.
Each drone costs Airbound $2,000 to manufacture and about ₹24 (around $0.27) per delivery. The company is working to bring delivery costs below ₹5 (about $0.05) by the end of 2026. Airbound also aims to reach one million deliveries per day by mid-2027, planning to ramp up production to over 100 drones daily, a significant increase from its current rate of one drone per day at its Bengaluru site.
Airbound has launched its first pilot project with Narayana Health in Bengaluru, delivering medical supplies for three months. The goal is to complete ten deliveries daily, transporting medical tests, blood samples, and other essential items.
Beyond healthcare, Airbound is also eyeing sectors like rapid commerce, food delivery, and several other last-mile delivery markets, Pushp told TechCrunch.
Once Airbound reaches the milestone of one million deliveries per day, it plans to expand internationally, with the U.S. as a target within three years. In the meantime, the company is in discussions with regulators such as India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation to begin operations soon.
So far, Airbound has raised more than $10 million in total funding and has a workforce of 50 employees.
The new funding will be used to boost manufacturing and scale up operations. The pilot initiative will also help the company refine its services and lower costs, preparing for a wider rollout in 2026, according to Airbound.
