Varda Space Industries

Varda Space Industries is an American space research company privately held and headquartered in Torrance, California. Founded in November 2020 by Will Bruey, Delian Asparouhov and Daniel Marshall. The company aims to be the first to build a space station with industrial use, to expand the economic bounds of humankind and has received $53M in venture funding from investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst and Also Capital.

Varda is accelerating innovation in the space industry and creating products that will benefit life on Earth. From more powerful fiber optic cables to new life-saving pharmaceuticals, Varda believes there is a world of products used on earth today that can only be manufactured in space, where it will take advantage of low gravity to manufacture things better than on Earth.

History of Varda Space and ownership

Varda Space Industries is a start up founded just a year ago in November 2020. It was founded by SpaceX and founders Fund Veterans, Will Bruey as CEO, Delian Asparouhov as President, and Daniel Marshall. Will Bruey is a former employee of SpaceX and Asparouhov and Marshall are associated with Founders Fund of Peter Thiel. CEO Will Bruey, who spent much of the past decade working on SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft, told CNBC that “The Varda mission is to build the first space factory – essentially the first industrial park on orbit.”

Co-Founders of Varda, Delian Asparouhov and Will Bruey.

Varda raised $42 million in a round led by Khosla Ventures and Caffeinated Capital, and joined by investors including Lux Capital, General Catalyst, and Founders Fund. With $11 million raised in a prior seed round, the company has brought in $53 million since its founding in 2020.

In August 2021, Varda Space announced that it had signed a contract with Rocket Lab to acquire three Photon satellite bus to carry out missions to build the space station. The first delivery is expected in the first quarter of 2023. In October 2021 Varda Space selected SpaceX for launch of first space manufacturing satellite. Varda Space will launch its first spacecraft on a Falcon 9 in early 2023 to demonstrate the ability to produce a wide range of materials in microgravity.

Varda Space Factory Products

Varda space factory has made a grand move of their first product, a manufacturing platform and re-entry vehicle as announced on twitter by its President, Delian Asparouhov on 26th of January, 2022.  the company’s first platform that would aboard a folcon9 rocket on a Photon Bus is expected to be launched next year. it is described as a quarter-scale model.

Varda Space first manufacturing platform and re-entry vehicle.

Varda Space Locations and Operation

Based in Torrance, California, according Dalian, the company operates with 45 employees, an office and industrial production space. Varda Space began research into building an industrial space station in space. Due to low gravity and the absence of dust particles, fine technical products such as simiconductors, fiber optic cables could be manufactured there with higher precision and quality. It should also be possible to manufacture completely new materials and products there.

Inside view of Varda Space Industries work office and production space.

Insights

With reusable rockets having lowered the cost of access to space and opened up a range of in-space activities coupling with the recent attention and excitement surrounding the launches of Billionaires; Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos as focusing on how people can reach space and emerging trends of exciting innovations like blue Origin’s orbital Reef and SpaceX’s mission of colonizing Mars, it is reasonable to think Varda can go after a much larger market than space tourism, in terms of products that would impact a ton of people’s lives here on Earth and a lot more.