Drone startup Airbound to raise $30 million in fresh funding led by Greenoaks

Founded in 2023 by 20-year-old Naman Pushp, who first began working on drones at age 15, Airbound is building autonomous logistics aircraft based on a blended-wing-body, tail-sitter design

Bengaluru-based drone delivery startup Airbound is set to raise around $30 million in a fresh round led by Greenoaks with participation from Lightspeed and other existing investors

The round comes at a time when there is a sharp shift in investor appetite toward deeptech startups, especially those building core technologies in robotics, aerospace, and AI. Both global venture funds and the Indian government are moving aggressively to back R&D-heavy deeptech companies.

The company currently focuses on healthcare logistics but aims to expand to other sectors by 2026. In the long term, Airbound plans to integrate drone delivery into platforms like ONDC, letting consumers choose between a bike, van, or drone based on cost and speed.

Lightspeed and Airbound did not comment on the development.

The investment comes just two months after Airbound raised $8.65 million in seed funding in October, backed by marquee names including Physical Intelligence cofounder Lachy Groom, Humba Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and senior executives from Tesla, Anduril, and Ather Energy.

Founded in 2023 by 20-year-old Naman Pushp, who first began working on drones at age 15, Airbound is building autonomous logistics aircraft based on a blended-wing-body, tail-sitter design.

Unlike conventional quadcopters, its drones take off vertically and then transition to forward flight, combining the agility of a rocket launch with the efficiency of fixed-wing cruising.

Built using carbon fibre, the aircraft are lightweight and highly energy-efficient, and Airbound manufactures key components such as propellers in-house to control costs.

The upcoming Lightspeed-led round also coincides with the venture firm launching India Ascends on December 10, a new platform aimed at identifying and backing young innovators across AI, space, robotics, climate, biotech, energy, and defence tech.

Built with partners including Anthropic, Groq, Google Cloud, and AWS, the initiative is positioned to deepen Lightspeed’s exposure to R&D-first businesses, making Airbound an early example of the thesis in action.

The timing also aligns with India’s widening policy and capital push into deeptech.

As Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India Abhay Karandikar recently told Moneycontrol, the government’s Rs 1 lakh crore RDI fund will deploy around Rs 15,000–20,000 crore annually into AIFs and startups over the next seven years, marking one of India’s most aggressive bets on deeptech innovation.

The initiative comes amid global geopolitics prioritising technological self-reliance, especially in areas such as aerospace, semiconductors, and defence.

Venture firms and strategic investors are stepping up as well.

Global chipmakers Nvidia and Qualcomm Ventures have joined hands with Indian funds such as Activate AI, Chiratae Ventures, InfoEdge Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Singularity Holdings VC, and YourNest to strengthen the early-stage deeptech pipeline.

The India Deep Tech Alliance (IDTA) recently secured fresh commitments exceeding Rs 7,500 crore ($850 million) to support startups building foundational technologies.