At 15, he won $500 building a drone; today, Bengaluru teen founder runs a $50 million aerospace startup

At just 21, Naman Pushp is building an aerospace company around an idea that emerged from a problem he encountered while experimenting with drones as a teenager. What began during the 2020 lockdown as a school student’s robotics project has since evolved into Airbound, a Bengaluru-based startup that has raised $37 million in a Series A round led by Greenoaks, taking its total funding to nearly $50 million, according to India Today.

Pushp’s journey began with a $500 hackathon prize and eventually led him to turn down a place at Carnegie Mellon University to work on drone technology full-time.

Also Read: Solar panels cut light by 80% in sea cucumber ponds, but what happened to sea cucumbers surprised scientists

The drone project that started during lockdown

Pushp was 15 when the COVID-19 pandemic brought schools and outdoor activities to a halt in 2020. With more time at home, he returned to an interest that had occupied him since childhood: building robots.

He soon began experimenting with drones and created a project called Open Drone. He entered the work in a hackathon and won $500. Instead of treating the prize as an award to spend, Pushp put the money back into the project and used it to develop his first prototype.

That early drone has since found a permanent place at Airbound’s office, where it reportedly hangs on a wall as a reminder of how the company began.

Who is Naman Pushp?

Pushp was born in Mumbai and spent parts of his childhood in Hyderabad and Malaysia before returning to India. His interest in engineering reportedly developed early, with the future founder building simple robots while he was in Classes 5 and 6 in Malaysia.

He also participated in robotics competitions and worked on engineering projects during his school years.

At 16, he received his first venture cheque from GradCapital while still a student. Because he was a minor, the investors had to speak with his father before making the investment.

Pushp later secured admission to Carnegie Mellon University but chose not to take up the opportunity. Instead, he decided to continue working on the problems he had encountered while building drones.

Why Airbound wants to rethink drone delivery

The central problem Pushp identified involved the economics of conventional aircraft.

According to the account, much of an aircraft’s energy is spent carrying the aircraft itself, leaving the payload, or the goods being transported, as only part of what the system is effectively moving.

Pushp saw this as a major obstacle for drone delivery, particularly when competing with road-based transportation on cost.

Airbound was created around the idea of reversing that equation by designing aircraft that could make the economics of transporting goods more viable.

The company is now working on lightweight carbon-fibre aircraft that can eventually be manufactured at scale.

Airbound has begun testing a delivery network

The startup has already moved beyond the prototype stage. For now, Airbound can provide as many as 20 flights per day on a single clinic-to-hospital route.

The company has also reportedly been planning a broader operation in Andhra Pradesh that would connect Amaravati, Vijayawada and Guntur.

Its longer-term ambition is considerably larger, with a target of 10,000 flights a day.

The Andhra Pradesh government is also said to be supporting the creation of a network of ground observers for private operators, while ensuring flights remain within visual line of sight.

Also Read: Saturn south pole decagon: NASA Hubble detects mysterious 10-sided pattern forming around planet

The next challenge is making 100 aircraft a day

As Airbound grows, Pushp expects manufacturing to become one of the company’s biggest tests.

The startup is betting on lightweight carbon-fibre aircraft that can be built in large numbers rather than relying on low-volume production.

That scale matters to the company’s long-term vision of making drone-based transportation commercially practical.

“100 aircraft a day will start to feel very small,” Pushp said at an event, according to India Today.

From a teenage hackathon project during lockdown to an aerospace startup backed by nearly $50 million, Pushp’s journey has moved rapidly from experimenting with drones to attempting to build an aircraft company around a problem he first encountered himself.