Airbound, an Indian startup developing autonomous drones, has secured $37 million in a Series A funding round led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed, and Humba Ventures. This latest investment brings the company’s total funding to nearly $50 million, following an $8.65 million seed round raised less than a year ago. Airbound aims to make aerial goods transportation as cost-effective as traditional trucking by redesigning drones to be lighter than their cargo, thereby reducing energy expenditure on carrying the aircraft’s own weight.
The startup employs a rocket-like, tail-sitter design for its drones, enabling vertical takeoff and landing while transitioning to horizontal flight. Airbound’s current drone, the TRT, weighs approximately 3.3 pounds and can carry around 2.2 pounds of payload, with an upcoming version expected to weigh about 6.6 pounds and carry up to 11 pounds. Airbound has completed over 13,000 autonomous flights in Bengaluru and Guntur, including partnerships with Narayana Health for transporting diagnostic samples. The company has also signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh state government to establish a drone delivery network targeting 10,000 daily flights for retail, e-commerce, and healthcare deliveries, though regulatory approval for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations remains a significant hurdle. Despite having a team of over 150 employees, Airbound remains pre-revenue, with its founder and CEO, Naman Pushp, emphasizing a long-term vision of becoming a major player in the industry rather than focusing on immediate profitability. [Source](https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/24/indias-airbound-