Imagine telling a room full of aerospace vets, pharma execs, and defense insiders that the future of drug manufacturing is 200 miles above their heads, inside a capsule blazing back to Earth at Mach 25. You’d get a few laughs, maybe a polite nod. But Varda Space Industries wasn’t pitching punchlines, they were building spacecraft. And this week, they locked in $187 million in Series C funding to prove that orbital manufacturing isn’t a sci-fi subplot. It’s a business model. One that’s working.
Founded in November 2020 by Will Bruey, Delian Asparouhov, and Daniel Marshall, Varda has gone from cocktail-napkin concept to four launch missions, FAA reentry licenses, and actual revenue, in less time than most Series B startups are still arguing over KPIs. Will Bruey brought the hardware instincts from SpaceX. Delian Asparouhov brought the VC teeth from Founders Fund. Daniel Marshall brought the physics and stuck around to keep the board honest.
The Series C, led by Natural Capital and Shrug Capital, with continued backing from Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, Lux Capital, Also Capital, and even Peter Thiel, brings their total raise to $329 million and a valuation touching $696 million. When you’ve got investors this dialed-in still doubling down after four missions, you’re not pitching dreams. You’re shipping data, and returns.
Here’s what they’re doing: crystallizing ritonavir (an HIV drug) in orbit and landing it with precision. Running hypersonic reentry tests for the DoD. Operating with an FAA license under Part 450, first of its kind. And in case anyone forgot, their W-1 capsule was the first commercial spacecraft to land on U.S. soil. That’s not a flex. That’s receipts.
Varda is building vertically, literally. With a new lab in El Segundo, a facility in Huntsville, and in-house spacecraft that handle everything from satellite bus to heat shield, the company’s control over the full stack is rare. Think Tesla, if Tesla dropped biopharma payloads from space.
Now led by Bruey as CEO, Asparouhov as President and Chairman, Jon Barr as COO, and Adrian Radocea as Chief Science Officer, Varda is eyeing monthly missions by 2026. Defense, pharma, fiber optics, this isn’t about one product. It’s about owning the infrastructure of space-based manufacturing before anyone else figures out how high the ceiling really is.
So yeah, space is crowded with big talkers and pitch decks. Varda’s difference? They come back with cargo.
