Skye Air bags $9M funding led by IAN Alpha Fund

Drone delivery platform Skye Air Mobility has announced the first close of its Series B funding round, securing $9 million. This investment was led by the IAN Alpha Fund, which is the second venture capital fund from the IAN Group.

The funding was structured into two specific stages, with $4 million raised in Series B1 and $5 million in Series B2. Several other investors participated in the round, including AVNM Ventures, Faad Capital, and Bajaj Capital.

The company intends to use this capital to transition from proving its business model to scaling its infrastructure across the country. A primary focus will be deepening its Physical AI stack, which is the technology that links autonomous drones with intelligent airspace management and ground robotics.

These funds will also support the expansion of operations beyond the Delhi-NCR region into five major metropolitan cities, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, over the next 18 months.

“This fundraise marks our transition from proving the model to scaling the infrastructure. The capital will go toward deepening our Physical AI stack, connecting autonomous drones, intelligent airspace management through Skye UTM, and AI-powered ground robotics into a single seamless delivery chain,” said Ankit Kumar, Founder and CEO of Skye Air Mobility.

Founded in 2019, Skye Air Mobility has gained traction in hyperlocal drone delivery, which is rapid transport of goods over short distances within a specific area.

In over two years of commercial operations, the firm has completed 3.6 million autonomous deliveries. Its drones are designed to carry payloads of up to 10 kilograms, serving various sectors including e-commerce, healthcare, and industrial supply chains.

The company uses a hub-pod-walker system that combines aerial drones with ground-based logistics. This hybrid approach is specifically designed for complex Indian urban environments to ensure that drones improve efficiency without causing a dramatic loss of jobs.

Managing these operations is Skye UTM, a proprietary traffic management platform that acts as the command-and-control backbone for the delivery network.

“The real unlock lies in the infrastructure that enables reliable, scalable autonomous aerial delivery. What stood out with Skye Air is that Ankit and the team recognised this early and built an integrated system combining airspace management, a hub-pod-walker network, and a Physical AI logistics stack,” noted Rajnish Kapur, Managing Partner of IAN Alpha Fund, highlighting the structural benefits of this technology for the future of Indian transport.

The broader market for last-mile logistics in India, which is the final step of a delivery process from a distribution centre to the end user, is currently valued at about $5.5 billion. This sector is expected to reach $10 billion by 2030.

As delivery speed and sustainability become more important for major ecommerce players, drone-enabled delivery is projected to capture a significant share of this growth.