Bengaluru-Based Airbound Secures $8.65M Seed Funding and Contract With Narayana Health to Enable One-Cent Drone Deliveries

October 14, 2025 at 02:30 AM EDT

The Physical Intelligence-led funding will expedite the development of the highest payload-to-weight ratio craft

Airbound, an autonomous delivery logistics firm specializing in blended-wing-body aircraft, today announced $8.65 million in seed funding and a pilot partnership with Narayana Health. The round was led by Lachy Groom, co-founder of Physical Intelligence, with participation from Humba Ventures and continued participation from Lightspeed. This seed round also includes investment from senior leaders at Tesla, SpaceX, and Anduril, reflecting deep conviction from operators who have scaled complex hardware and autonomy programs.

Airbound's proprietary carbon fiber manufacturing process has enabled rapid production, with the company now producing crafts everyday. The one-of-a-kind craft features a blended-wing-body with a vertical lift tail-sitter design, achieving a payload-to-aircraft mass ratio of 1kg-to-1.5kg. The combination of the tailsitter configuration with a BWB enables vertical takeoff and landing while maintaining the aerodynamic efficiency of fixed-wing flight, avoiding the performance penalties that affect tilt-rotor and quadplane aircraft designs.

"We are grateful to our incoming and current investors for supporting our vision to make the cost of delivery negligible," said Naman Pushp, Founder and CEO of Airbound. "The healthcare sector represents the perfect testing ground for our technology because it demands both reliability and efficiency. Our partnership with Narayana Health validates that our approach can handle the most critical delivery requirements while demonstrating the cost advantages that will make our service accessible globally."

With this funding, Airbound aims to continue reducing delivery costs to the point where geographic distance becomes irrelevant for accessing goods and services. The company's mission is to provide access to essential items, regardless of location, with a particular initial emphasis on underserved regions where traditional logistics infrastructure is limited.

"Airbound's approach to drone delivery addresses fundamental physics and economics problems that have limited the scalability of existing solutions," said Lachy Groom, co-founder of Physical Intelligence. "Their blended-wing-body design and manufacturing capabilities position them to achieve the cost efficiency needed to make drone delivery truly viable for a wide range of applications."

The pilot program with Narayana Health will showcase Airbound's drone capabilities in medical logistics over a three-month period. During this period, Airbound will complete ten deliveries per day of medical tests, blood samples, and other critical supplies, providing proof of concept for one of the most demanding delivery applications.

“At Narayana Health, we are constantly exploring innovative solutions to enhance patient care and operational efficiency,” said Dr Devi Shetty, Founder and Chairman, Narayana Health. “Our partnership with Airbound allows us to pilot a promising technology that could significantly improve the speed and reliability of medical deliveries. This initiative reflects our commitment to leveraging technology to better serve patients, particularly in areas where timely access to critical diagnostics and supplies can make a life-saving difference.”

The medical delivery pilot with Narayana Health offers Airbound regulatory advantages and customer validation in a high-stakes environment. The partnership also provides real-world testing conditions that will inform the company's expansion into broader logistics applications.

After a funding round last November, Airbound has now secured over $10M in total funding. This seed funding enables Airbound to scale its manufacturing capabilities and expand its operations beyond just medical delivery. The company intends to use insights from its collaboration with Narayana Health to improve its services, reduce costs, and prepare itself for wider market adoption in 2026.

About Airbound:

Airbound is an autonomous delivery logistics firm that is reshaping the economics of drone delivery with a first-of-its-kind blended-wing-body aircraft. Airbound's ultra-lightweight aircraft surpasses competitors in efficiency on a per-kilogram basis. With a blended wing body shape and carbon fiber frame, Airbound's aircraft achieves an unparalleled 1.5kg-to-1kg payload ratio, resulting in delivery costs 20 times lower than conventional methods and significantly lower than drone delivery competitors. The company's mission is to make delivery costs so low that distance becomes virtually irrelevant, enabling access to goods and services everywhere in the world. For more information, visit www.airbound.com.