Airbound, a Bangalore-based drone startup founded by Naman Pushp at age 15 during the COVID-19 lockdown, has raised $8.65 million in seed funding. The round was led by Lachy Groom, co-founder of Physical Intelligence, with participation from Humba Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and senior leaders from Tesla, SpaceX, and Anduril.
The company is pioneering ultra-light, blended-wing-body drones designed for hyper-efficient delivery. Its aircraft, called the TRT, uses a tail-sitter design and carbon fiber frame, enabling rocket-style vertical takeoff and airplane-like flight. This design aims to reduce delivery costs to as low as one cent per parcel.
Currently, electric two-wheelers in India cost about $0.02 per 0.6 miles in energy to deliver small payloads. Airbound’s TRT drone, optimized for payloads under 3 kilograms, cuts that cost to around $0.001), thanks to its lightweight build and autonomous operation. The drone weighs 3.3 pounds and carries up to 2.2 pounds, with a second version in development that will carry 6.6 pounds while weighing just 2.6 pounds.
Airbound’s drones use lithium-ion batteries, which last 500 – 800 cycles, compared to the 100 – 200 cycles of lithium-polymer packs. Each drone costs $2,000 to manufacture and currently enables deliveries at $0.27 per parcel. The startup aims to reduce that to below $0.05 by the end of 2026.
Airbound has launched a three-month pilot with Narayana Health in Bangalore, delivering medical supplies such as blood samples and test kits. It plans to expand into quick commerce, food delivery, and other last-mile logistics sectors. The company also intends to enter the U.S. market within three years.
With over $10 million in total funding and a team of 50, Airbound is scaling up production from one drone per day to over 100 daily by mid-2027, targeting one million deliveries per day.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
