'Roads are optional': Airbound founder on taking drone deliveries mainstream with Narayana Health

Bengaluru-based autonomous logistics start-up Airbound is eyeing the skies to transform how India thinks about delivery. Fresh off an $8.65-million seed funding round, the company has partnered with Narayana Health to pilot medical drone deliveries—marking its first commercial engagement and a high-stakes test for its ambitious technology.

The funding round, led by Lachy Groom, co-founder of Physical Intelligence, also saw participation from Humba Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and senior leaders from Tesla, Anduril, and Ather Energy. The three-month pilot with Narayana Health will see Airbound drones make 10 daily deliveries of blood samples, test kits, and essential medical supplies, validating their reliability.

Founded in 2023 by Naman Pushp, Airbound’s vision goes beyond quick commerce or incremental innovation. “We’re not thinking one or two years ahead,” Pushp told Business Today. “We’re looking at what ensures we are dominating 10, 20 years out into the future.”

Airbound’s engineering-first philosophy is what sets it apart in India’s growing drone ecosystem. Its drones are built in-house from carbon fibre and feature a blended-wing-body “tailsitter” design, which combines the vertical lift of helicopters with the aerodynamic efficiency of airplanes. This allows them to carry 1 kg payloads over 37 km, a performance edge achieved through first-principles design rather than iterations on existing models.

For Airbound, this long-term approach has been crucial in attracting strategic partners. Pushp says Dr Devi Shetty, Founder and Chairman of Narayana Health, shares a similar vision of sustainable innovation. “Dr. Shetty sees how this can reshape healthcare logistics not just today but 20 years down the line.”

Dr. Shetty, in turn, sees drones as the next leap in medical efficiency. “Our partnership with Airbound allows us to pilot a promising technology that could significantly improve the speed and reliability of medical deliveries,” he said in a press note, adding that such innovation could make life-saving differences in underserved areas.

The fresh capital will primarily go into scaling manufacturing and building a fleet of delivery drones. While Airbound remains pre-revenue, its roadmap is to reduce delivery costs so drastically that distance becomes irrelevant. “We want to make delivery as ubiquitous as a bike,” Pushp said.

With around $10 million raised so far, Airbound plans to expand beyond healthcare into broader logistics by 2026. If its pilot with Narayana Health proves successful, the company could well be scripting the early chapters of India’s aerial logistics revolution—one where, as Pushp puts it, “roads are optional.”