Varda has closed a $251M Series D that values the company at $1.6B, bringing total funding to nearly $600M. US based Varda builds uncrewed, free-flying space capsules that act as orbital laboratories and manufacturing platforms for products whose development in space yields better efficiencies or purities than in the gravity of Earth.
Since 2023, Varda has flown six missions with its gumdrop-shaped W-Series capsule, and all but the fourth re-entered successfully. More than a dozen further missions are planned over the next two years, with a next-generation capsule due in 2030.
The next milestone is close. W-8 and W-9 are set to launch together on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 today, the first time Varda flies two capsules at once.
Launch access is a concern across the industry, as SpaceX is phasing out Falcon 9 and winding down rideshare missions. Varda looks largely insulated, with 28 launches booked with different providers through 2027 to 2029, according to Varda CEO Will Bruey.
The commercial direction is clear. About 70% of next year’s payload customers are government, with the rest in pharmaceutical work, and Bruey expects that split to flip by 2032. Pfizer veteran Mikael Dolsten joined the board in August, and about 18% of Varda’s roughly 275 employees have pharmaceutical backgrounds.
Partnerships are building on both the pharmaceutical and semiconductor sides. In November 2025, Varda and United Semiconductors announced a multi-flight joint development agreement to produce semiconductors in orbit for use on Earth. In May, Varda announced a partnership with United Therapeutics to test manufacturing of pharmaceuticals in microgravity. There is still no straight-line connection between orbital discoveries and any drug here on Earth, which is why the clinical milestone matters so much.
Competition is building. SpaceX’s Starfall program debuted this year, and SpaceX may well capture the majority of the return capsule market. Even so, there is plenty of opportunity for companies that work closely with pharmaceutical companies, as Varda does. Demand for both manufacturing in space and bringing the results safely back to Earth is growing. If a killer application emerges, such as a medicine made in orbit that proves better than anything made on Earth and needs to be mass produced, scaling will follow. The deciding factor is economics. A space-made medicine must deliver enough additional value over its Earth-made equivalent to justify the cost of orbital manufacturing and return. Without that, expect steady growth.
Varda raises $250 million at $1.6 billion valuation to scale orbital drug manufacturing
Varda Raises $251M Series D
Varda and United Semiconductors Announce Joint Development Agreement
A plan to make drugs in orbit is going commercial