Varda Space Startup Plans to Develop Factories in Orbit

Varda Space Industries has now raised $53 million in funding. This new startup in the space industry was founded by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov, a pair who have worked at SpaceX and Founders Fund for over a decade. 

Like SpaceX, Varda’s mission is ambitious; they want to be the first company to build factories in space. In an interview with CNBC, Will Bruey, the CEO of Varda, stated: “The Varda mission is to build the first space factory – essentially the first industrial park on orbit.” Varda is aiming at having its first mission in the first quarter of 2023. 

They raised over $42 million in a round of funding that involved investors like Khosla Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, Lux Capital, General Catalyst, and Founders Fund. Before this round, they had initially raised $11 million in seed capital, which brings their total capital to over $53 million within less than a year after founding the company. 

Varda has so far assembled a team of 16 people, most of them coming from SpaceX and several other companies in the space industry. They aim to build a team of at least 40 people before the first launch. 

So, what exactly will Varda be manufacturing in space? According to their CEO Bruey, Varda will look to tap markets for products such as semiconductors, fiber optic cables, or pharmaceuticals – “extremely large” marketplaces here on the ground, Asparouhov said. He also noted: “Varda can exist because we don’t have to build the entire” technology system “ourselves,”

They may not be the first company to take goods to and from space stations, but they want to become the first to manufacture products right from space.

Asparouhov, the co-founder of Varda, noted that they would judge themselves based on their frequency of reentry because their goal is to bring value back on earth.

Varda is currently working on a three-piece spacecraft to kick off their journey. It consists of a commercially available spacecraft platform, the manufacturing module, and a heat shield-protected capsule to reenter the atmosphere and land under parachutes. Their first goal is to bring back products of at least 100 kg of material on earth. 

Regarding regulation, Varda is still in the preliminary design review level and in the final stages of being authorized by the regulators and other stakeholders. Many are wondering if Varda will beat the deadline for their first mission scheduled for Q1 2023.