Varda Space Industries

Varda Space Industries is an American space manufacturing company founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey, a former SpaceX engineer, and Delian Asparouhov, a partner at Founders Fund. It is headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company's business is growing small-molecule pharmaceutical crystals in microgravity aboard orbiting capsules, then returning the processed material to Earth.

History and funding

Varda raised early funding in rounds in December 2020 and July 2021, followed by a $90 million round in April 2024 and a $187 million round in 2025 that valued the company above $1 billion. Investors include Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund. Varda became the first company to hold an FAA Part 450 special vehicle operator licence, issued for its fourth capsule mission and valid through 2029.

Products on this site

Varda's W-Series capsule is the company's autonomous, free-flying orbital processing and reentry vehicle. Six W-Series capsules have flown as rideshare payloads on SpaceX Falcon 9 missions since June 2023, carrying pharmaceutical processing payloads and, on more recent flights, hypersonic reentry research instruments for US government customers.