Airbound takes flight with $1.7 million seed round as it aims to make drone delivery economically viable
Drone technology startup, Airbound, has announced a $1.7 million seed round led by Lightspeed.
With its proprietary blended wing body tailsitter design, called TRT, the company aims to transform logistics, reducing delivery costs by two orders of magnitude compared to traditional options.
Historically, the drone delivery industry has faced challenges due to regulatory complexity and high per mile costs, which have prevented drones from becoming the default solution for last mile logistics. Airbound’s TRT design is pitched as the lightest, safest, and most economically viable delivery drone, reducing the cost of deliveries to just a few cents.
“We are proud to have developed not only an industry leading delivery drone, but also a highly efficient, scalable manufacturing process,” says Naman Pushp, Founder and CEO at Airbound.
“We scrutinised every vehicle system to reduce weight, enhance safety and reliability, and maximise efficiency. We developed new methods to manufacture carbon fibre, which allow us to reduce the weight of our Airframe from 6 pounds to 400 grams. Our goal isn’t just to build a great drone - we want to create a world where delivery is essentially free”
The journey began as a high school project for Naman Pushp, who turned down an offer to study at Carnegie Mellon University to pursue his passion for drones. With early backing from gradCapital, he spent four years developing TRT, working on carbon composite manufacturing, aerostructures, and advanced control systems.
Airbound's initial focus is on medical deliveries, particularly routine supply deliveries such as transporting blood samples from health centres to testing labs. Once the system is proven at scale, Airbound plans to expand into other applications including food and grocery delivery.
Hemant Mohapatra, Partner, Lightspeed comments: “Drones are the future of deliveries and we are highly optimistic about the potential of this game-changing technology in revolutionising logistics.”
“Our investment in Airbound aligns with our mission of backing founders who can identify market gaps and pioneer path-breaking products to address those. We are incredibly excited to partner with Naman, confident that their innovation will redefine delivery logistics.”
2024 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS
Food and grocery delivery is a key focus area for the sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards, which are now closed for entries.
The awards, sponsored by Vista Technology Support, Scala, CADS, 3D Cloud, Brightpearl by Sage’s Lightning 50, Business France, and Retail Technology Show 2025, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Key 2024 dates
Friday, 25th October: Award entry deadline
Tuesday, 29th October: 2024 shortlist revealed
30th October-6th November: Judging days
Thursday, 21st November: Winners announced at the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony, to be held at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London.
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