This means companies lack both historical data to learn from, and access to experts who have seen similar cases. Bridgetown Research is changing that. 

The AI decision science startup has raised $19 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed and Accel, with participation from a leading research university.

Bridgetown Research has developed AI agents that autonomously execute research. Most notable amongst these agents are voice bots trained to recruit and interview industry experts, gathering primary data that can be analyzed alongside alternative data sourced from their partners. 

Founded by Harsh Sahai, who previously led machine learning teams at Amazon before leading strategy engagements at McKinsey & Co., Bridgetown Research was born from a simple observation: the majority of business analyses are a permutation of a small number of automatable tasks. 

The founding team, comprising former professionals from McKinsey, Bain, Amazon, and leading tech startups, brings together extensive experience across strategy consulting and technology.

“We are excited to be a catalyst for change. We are working with multiple private equity firms, management consulting firms, and corporate teams to help make strategic decisions better and faster. This in turn is driving up demand for advisory and information services downstream. 

“We enable $10+ of advisory and information services revenue for every $1 we make. Together with leading institutions, we’re building something bigger than ourselves—an ecosystem where everyone thrives,” commented Harsh Sahai, CEO & founder of Bridgetown Research.

While many AI solutions focus on searching and summarizing information using LLMs, real-world business decisions require much more than synthesising the open web.

They need proprietary data such as primary data from experts and customer surveys, along with frameworks to understand markets, what Harsh Sahai calls “ontologies”. 

Moreover, outputs need to be repeatable and auditable for a business to use them to make decisions with tens of millions of dollars at stake. Bridgetown Research is the only player using agents to gather primary data and systematically find patterns in it to generate original insights. 

“AI is causing widespread disruptions across many enterprise functions, and Bridgetown Research is riding that wave by assisting executives in making important strategic decisions. We are pleased to see Bridgetown serving several marquee customers, with users likening its platform to having a team of top-tier consultants at their fingertips. 

“We are excited to partner with Harsh, who, with his background as an ace AI research scientist turned management consultant, blends a unique combination of skills and insight needed to imagine this whole new category of applied AI,” said Anagh Prasad, investor at Accel.

Bridgetown Research started with a focus on private equity deal screening diligence. Multiple top-tier PE & VC firms already use Bridgetown Research for deal screening and deeper commercial diligence. 

They’re able to screen their pipeline much faster with initial analysis taking 24 hours instead of weeks without Bridgetown enabling teams to focus on actual decision-making instead of research and analysis. 

For other customers, Bridgetown has enabled voice-of-customer conversations that cover hundreds of respondents in parallel, and within days. 

Ishaan Preet Singh, investor at Lightspeed added “Companies are built on the quality of strategic decisions, and the research and analysis behind it. Bridgetown Research enables the smartest executives and investors to make these decisions with an order of magnitude more information, and at a pace that was earlier impossible. Harsh and Bridgetown are already creating immense value for their customers, but are still just scratching the surface of the leverage that AI can create.”

As global markets become increasingly complex, the demand for efficient and effective decision-making tools continues to rise. 

With this funding round, Bridgetown Research plans to invest further in training its AI agents to perform a broader set of analyses across a broader range of domains, and deepening industry partnerships to enhance access to domain-specific intelligence.

With its proprietary blended wing body tailsitter design, called TRT, Airbound aims to transform logistics, reducing delivery costs by two orders of magnitude compared to traditional options.

Historically, the drone delivery industry has faced challenges due to regulatory complexity and high per-mile costs, which have prevented drones from becoming the default solution for last-mile logistics.

Airbound’s TRT design will be the lightest, safest, and most economically viable delivery drone, reducing the cost of deliveries to just a few cents. 

“We are proud to have developed not only an industry-leading delivery drone, but also a highly efficient, scalable manufacturing process,” said Naman Pushp, founder and CEO of Airbound. 

“We scrutinized every vehicle system to reduce weight, enhance safety and reliability, and maximize efficiency. We developed new methods to manufacture carbon fiber, which allow us to reduce the weight of our Airframe from 6 pounds to 400 grams. Our goal isn’t just to build a great drone—we want to create a world where delivery is essentially free” 

The journey began as a high school project for Naman Pushp, who turned down an offer to study at Carnegie Mellon University to pursue his passion for drones. 

With early backing from gradCapital, he spent four years developing TRT, innovating on carbon composite manufacturing, aerostructures, and advanced control systems.

Today, Airbound’s drone is over three times lighter than conventional alternatives, with four times the aerodynamic efficiency, significantly reducing upfront and operating costs.

Airbound’s efficiency-first strategy sets it apart from competitors more focused on speed, adapting existing drones for limited market segments. 

Airbound’s initial focus is on medical deliveries, particularly routine supply deliveries such as transporting blood samples from health centers to testing labs.

Once the system is proven at scale, Airbound plans to expand into other applications including food and grocery delivery, where reducing logistics costs can significantly enhance profitability. In total, the company’s drones have already spanned thousands of kilometers.

Hemant Mohapatra, partner, Lightspeed commented: “Drones are the future of deliveries and we are highly optimistic about the potential of this game-changing technology in revolutionizing logistics. Our investment in Airbound aligns with our mission of backing founders who can identify market gaps and pioneer path-breaking products to address those. We are incredibly excited to partner with Naman, confident that their innovation will redefine delivery logistics.”  

The timing is ideal for Airbound’s technology. Many of the major regulatory and technological bottlenecks have been addressed, and public enthusiasm around the technology is rising.

The only remaining challenge has been making the technology cost effective—a problem Airbound has solved.