Bengaluru-based aerospace startup Airbound has raised $37 million in a Series A funding round, as the company looks to scale engineering, manufacturing and commercial operations for its autonomous aircraft. 

The startup has also signed an agreement with Andhra Pradesh to develop a three-city drone delivery network, with plans to eventually handle up to 10,000 flights a day.

The Series A round was led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lachy Groom, Lightspeed and Humba Ventures. With this latest fundraise, Airbound has raised nearly $50 million since its launch in 2023. 

The company plans to use the capital to accelerate engineering, build commercial-scale manufacturing capacity and expand its go-to-market operations.

Airbound is developing lightweight autonomous aircraft aimed at making aerial logistics faster and cheaper. Its aircraft are designed around what the company describes as a physics-first approach, with the goal of ensuring that a greater proportion of the aircraft’s weight can be used for carrying passengers or cargo rather than the aircraft itself.

The company has already tested its aircraft in healthcare logistics. Airbound said it has completed more than 1,000 autonomous flights with zero mission failures in partnership with Narayana Health, transporting diagnostic samples between healthcare facilities. The startup said the flights helped reduce delivery times from hours to minutes.

A major part of its expansion strategy is the partnership with Andhra Pradesh, where Airbound plans to build a drone delivery network connecting Amaravati, Vijayawada and Guntur. 

The network is expected to support deliveries for retail, e-commerce and healthcare businesses, with operations planned to scale to as many as 10,000 daily flights.

The Andhra Pradesh project is significant because it moves Airbound beyond individual drone delivery trials towards a larger aerial logistics network. The phased rollout is expected to involve pilot operations, route mapping, regulatory coordination and the development of interconnected drone corridors across the region.

Airbound’s technology could also eventually be used beyond package deliveries. The company plans to explore applications in freight transportation and, over time, passenger travel between cities. 

This gives the startup a broader ambition of developing autonomous aircraft for multiple forms of transportation rather than focusing only on last-mile delivery.

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