Varda Space Industries

Thanks to the organizers of the International Planetary Probe Workshop for letting the Varda team show off our W-1 capsule, the first commercial orbital reentry vehicle to land on the soil of any planet. Varda CEO Will Bruey gave a keynote this morning detailing our first mission and our deep appreciation for the work pioneered by our partners at NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Langley Research Center.

The Varda team will be at Biotechnology Innovation Organization's BIO International Convention next week! Send us a note at pharma@varda.com if you want to connect, and make sure to catch our talk at 4:15 on Monday, June 3. https://lnkd.in/gK5krE6x

In-space processing can offer significant benefits for the pharmaceutical industry, such as the development of novel drug formulations — unlocking discoveries that are not possible on Earth. 🛰 Read more about our work in an interview with Mark Herbert in Newsweek's Investment Reports:  https://lnkd.in/gZ3GKPgR

We're #hiring a new Senior Integration & Test Engineer in El Segundo, California. Apply today or share this post with your network.

Last year, FAA gave Varda formal, written permission to launch W-1 and Varda complied with all requirements in place to do so. Varda will continue working with FAA and other federal regulators as their policies regarding reentry operations continue to evolve. https://lnkd.in/gKWjM6sk

My colleague, Wendy Shimata, and I had the pleasure of catching up with Brendan Byrne, host of NPR's podcast "Are we there yet?", where we discussed Varda's novel microgravity platform and the future of pharmaceuticals in space. Check it out. https://lnkd.in/gmP4FSre

We're #hiring a new Inventory Specialist in El Segundo, California. Apply today or share this post with your network.

Today we're announcing that Varda has raised a $90 million Series B funding round, led by Caffeinated Capital, with participation from Lux Capital, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, and Khosla Ventures. Our core mission, and biggest challenge, is to expand the economic bounds of human kind by creating a microgravity-enabled life sciences sector. In February, the W-1 spacecraft became the first ever fully autonomous, free-flying commercial spacecraft to land on US soil, bringing with it new insights, inspiration, and the chance to make an impact on the future of human health. “In the world of deeply ambitious startups, you almost never see anyone say, ‘Here’s my plan, I’m going to go get it done,’ and it actually happens. Varda is one of the few that gets it done, which is why we are thrilled to continue supporting them,” said Raymond Tonsing, Founder and Managing Partner at Caffeinated Capital. 

On February 14, Varda Space Industries received a reentry license from the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space to return a capsule from its first mission. The license issued for Varda’s W-Series 1 spacecraft will allow the company to land a capsule from that spacecraft at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The conical capsule measures 90 centimeters across and 74 centimeters high, and weighs less than 90 kilograms. The capsule reentry was successful on Feb. 21 and is significant as this is the first time a commercial company has successfully accomplished SpaceWERX/Varda. "This is a fantastic completion of a STRATFI milestone," said Lt Col Vinny Pande, Chief of SpaceWERX Ventures. "It's rewarding for SpaceWERX to help enable a small business to participate in a strategic funding vehicle, progress through several SBIR/STTR funding opportunities, and realize a viable transition to a fielded program; It’s great credit to Varda for working through the regulatory hurdles on this achievement! " Varda Space is also one of 18 TacRS Challenge SBIR Direct-to-Phase II (D2P2) awardees announced earlier this year. SpaceWERX will award up to $1.7M to each of these companies, totaling $32.3 million with a 15-month period-of-performance. Read more here: https://ow.ly/UT1M50R7F8u . . . #SpaceWERX #AFWERX #SBIR #D2P2 #STRATFI #USSF #FAA #OfficeofCommercialSpace #spacecraft #conicalcapsule #innovation

Varda is the first company to launch and successfully land a biomanufacturing spacecraft – the "first step in the biopharmaceutical space race." Read more about the ways our research on biomanufacturing in microgravity can offer significant scientific and commercial benefits in this briefing note from the experts at Axendia, Inc. https://lnkd.in/e8ACSdjp