Airbound Raises $37M to Make Drone Delivery Cheaper Than Trucking

The round, led by Greenoaks with backing from DoorDash and Lightspeed, brings the three-year-old firm’s total capital to nearly $50 million. Founder Naman Pushp envisions a "Boeing-like" role for the startup, focusing on manufacturing high-efficiency, rocket-style tail-sitter drones rather than merely operating a delivery service. Current prototypes, such as the 3.3-pound TRT, are already being tested in Bengaluru and Guntur to move diagnostic samples for the Narayana Health network, cutting transport times from hours to minutes.

Scaling these operations remains a significant hurdle. While Airbound has completed over 13,000 autonomous flights, it remains largely pre-revenue with a staff of 150. The primary obstacle is not manufacturing—housed in a 43,000-square-foot Bengaluru facility—but the regulatory landscape. To move toward their target of 10,000 daily flights in Andhra Pradesh, the company must secure complex certifications for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. For now, the startup is prioritizing long-term infrastructure over immediate profitability, aiming to become the foundational hardware provider for future aerial delivery networks.