Airbound raises $37mn to drive low-cost aerial logistics

Airbound has raised $37 million in a Series A funding round led by Greenoaks, with participation from DoorDash, Lightspeed India Partners, Lachy Groom and Humba Ventures, as the company looks to develop aircraft designed to make air transport a lower-cost alternative to conventional ground logistics.

Airbound is challenging the conventional economics of aviation, arguing that flying is expensive largely because aircraft themselves account for a significant share of the weight being moved. The company is developing a new generation of aircraft aimed at increasing the proportion of useful payload and reducing the cost of moving goods through the air.

The startup has already completed more than 13,000 autonomous flights and is now working with the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to scale operations towards 10,000 flights per day.

Airbound sees logistics as the first step in its broader ambition to shift more transportation into the air. The company envisions large fleets of autonomous drones replacing certain truck movements and, eventually, making air travel affordable enough to compete with conventional modes of passenger transport.

Airbound is developing advanced drones designed to dramatically lower delivery costs. By improving structural efficiency by 7x and aerodynamic performance by 6x, the company aims to reduce delivery costs by more than 137 times, with the long-term goal of enabling deliveries for as little as five cents.

Earlier, Airbound raised $8.65 million in seed funding and announced a pilot partnership with Narayana Health to explore drone-based medical deliveries.