Varda Space Industries
Space Drugs - in space manufacturing for pharma
- Initial Investment: November, 2024
- Financing Round: Series C
- Role: Angel Investor
- Thesis Alignment: Aerospace & Defense, Robotics & Autonomy, BioTech
- Founders: Will Bruey (CEO) LinkedIn & Delian Asparouhov (Pres.) LinkedIn
- Co-Investors: Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures,
- Website: https://www.varda.com/
- Headquarters: El Segundo, CA
Varda Space Industries is a pioneering space manufacturing company that aims to leverage the unique microgravity environment of low Earth orbit to produce high-value materials, particularly pharmaceuticals, that are difficult or impossible to manufacture on Earth. The company has developed an end-to-end system for manufacturing in space and returning products to Earth via reentry capsules.
Varda has emerged as a pioneering force in commercial space manufacturing, developing orbital systems and re-entry capsules that serve dual purposes in pharmaceutical innovation and national defense. The company leverages the unique properties of microgravity to enhance drug formulations, while simultaneously providing critical hypersonic testing capabilities for next-generation nuclear defense subsystems. In less than three years since its inception, Varda achieved a significant milestone by successfully landing the first commercial re-entry capsule on US soil.
At the core of Varda's operations is its scalable microgravity formulation platform, which has already demonstrated its potential by successfully creating three distinct drug crystal shapes in space and maintaining their stability through re-entry. This achievement has captured the attention of major pharmaceutical companies, with Varda securing research collaboration agreements for seven drugs and confidential disclosure agreements for four more. On the defense front, Varda's capsules enable crucial Mach 15+ flight testing, addressing a pressing national security need in hypersonics and nuclear modernization.