Narayana Health Partners with Airbound for Drone-Based Medical Deliveries

The partnership follows Airbound’s $8.65 million seed funding round, which will support the pilot project with the healthcare group.

Narayana Health has entered into a partnership with Airbound, an autonomous logistics company specializing in blended-wing-body aircraft, to introduce drone-based delivery of medicines and medical supplies.

The partnership follows Airbound’s $8.65 million seed funding round, which will support the pilot project with the healthcare group.

The funding round was led by Lachy Groom, co-founder of Physical Intelligence, with participation from Humba Ventures and continued investment from Lightspeed. Senior leaders from Tesla, Anduril, and Ather Energy also participated, highlighting confidence in Airbound’s ability to scale complex hardware and autonomous systems.

The collaboration aims to address key challenges in logistics, particularly in urban and remote areas where traditional delivery systems face delays, congestion, and high costs. By leveraging drone technology, the pilot is expected to reduce delivery times and improve accessibility to critical medical resources.

Insights from the pilot with Narayana Health will help develop future logistics solutions, optimize costs, and expand drone-based delivery models across industries.

Airbound’s proprietary carbon-fibre manufacturing process enables rapid drone production with a payload-to-aircraft mass ratio of 1:1.5. The company’s blended-wing-body tail-sitter design combines vertical take-off and landing capabilities with the aerodynamic efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft, overcoming the limitations of tilt-rotor and quad-plane systems.

Dr Devi Shetty, founder and chairman of Narayana Health, said, "We are constantly exploring innovative solutions to enhance patient care and operational efficiency. 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."

As part of the partnership, Airbound has launched a three-month pilot with Narayana Health, aiming to conduct ten medical deliveries per day, including blood samples, test kits, and essential supplies. The program serves as a proof of concept for one of the most demanding delivery applications, showcasing the reliability, speed, and cost efficiency of drone technology in healthcare logistics.

Naman Pushp, founder and CEO of Airbound, said, "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."

Lachy Groom, co-founder of Physical Intelligence, added, "Airbound's approach to drone delivery addresses fundamental physics and economics problems that have limited the scalability of existing solutions. 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."

Stay tuned for more such updates on Digital Health News