Drone Startup Airbound Bags Funding From Lightspeed

Drone startup Airbound has raised $1.7 Mn (about INR 14.34 Cr) in its seed round led by Lightspeed, with participation from gradCapital and other angel investors.

Airbound plans to use the funds to ramp up its research and development (R&D) efforts, especially for medical supply chains. 

Founded in 2022 by Naman Pushp and Faraaz Baig, Airbound aims to transform the logistics landscape by leveraging its proprietary blended wing body tailsitter design drone, called TRT. The startup claims its drones can lower delivery costs by up to two orders of magnitude compared to traditional methods. 

Airbound now plans to initially deploy TRT drones for transporting blood samples and other medical essentials from rural health centres to urban testing facilities. This model, Airbound believes, will establish strong footing in the healthcare logistics area before it moves into other sectors, such as food and grocery delivery.

In a conversation with Inc42, Pushp shared insights into the drone startup’s journey and technical advancements. 

He said that the startup has adopted a “phased human-in-the-loop” approach to ensure operational safety in unpredictable environments like Indian cities, where unplanned infrastructure could hinder autonomous navigation. 

Initially, a human will oversee each drone delivery to determine safe drop zones, allowing a gradual transition towards minimal human intervention as the technology matures.

Discussing Airbound’s cost-cutting approach, Naman highlighted how drones typically remain more expensive than traditional delivery methods. 

“For instance, a Zomato or Swiggy driver charges around INR 10 per km, whereas drones currently cost almost 10 times that,” he said. According to Pushp, Airbound’s solution focuses on optimising aerodynamics and reducing weight, backed by new manufacturing methods, to cut these costs significantly.

Testing the TRT model since 2021, Airbound claims to have advanced beyond the prototype stage, with its drones achieving a “reliability rate” of approximately 94-97%. The company claims that its drones are still in the testing phase as it is targeting a failure rate below 1% before launching pilot programmes. 

This cautious approach, Pushp said, is to avoid potential mishaps that could impact both the startup and industry regulations, as high-profile failures would attract legislative scrutiny.

While Airbound envisions venturing into the broader logistics market, Pushp said that it sees the medical field as an immediate, high-impact entry point. The TRT drones could prove vital in areas like Andhra Pradesh, where infrastructure challenges such as hilly terrain and frequent flooding make conventional delivery difficult and costly. 

The technology aligns with India’s rural healthcare model, as it can support medical logistics in even remote health centres.

With pilots expected next year, Airbound is positioning itself as a cost-effective, scalable drone delivery. “Our mission is to make drone delivery so affordable that it becomes the default choice for logistics,” Pushp said. 

Airbound has raised funds at a time when the Indian drone ecosystem is witnessing fresh investor interest owing to the Centre offering incentives and regulatory push to drone makers to manufacture products in India. Besides the growing adoption of drones, what has also helped the sector is the emergence of new use-cases that have given a boost to the homegrown drone industry. 

The development comes at a time when the country’s drone tech sector is growing rapidly on the back of rising interest from investors and government’s efforts to make the country a drone hub.

As per Inc42 data, India is home to more than 200 drone tech startups that have raised more than $140 Mn since 2014. The homegrown drone tech market is projected to grow to a size of $13 Bn by 2030.