With Varda Space, top Silicon Valley players invest heavily in drug manufacturing in space.

Pharmaceutical scientists face a challenging obstacle on Earth: gravity. Varda Space is aiming to revolutionize this by turning space into the ideal environment for producing essential pharmaceutical components that can then be used to create finished drugs.

Varda’s recent $187 million Series C funding round will be allocated towards constructing a new laboratory facility in El Segundo, California. This facility will enable Varda’s pharmaceutical scientists to identify the most promising biologics for space-based crystallization, conducting upfront work to determine the best candidates for an orbital mission and the conditions they should be subjected to in space.

The company is collaborating with major pharmaceutical manufacturers to address specific challenges they are encountering, such as crystallizing certain ingredients or ensuring drug purity and shelf-life stability. Varda aims to use its lab and orbital spacecraft to resolve these issues while generating valuable intellectual property that can be patented and licensed to drugmakers.

The funding round was led by Natural Capital and Shrug Capital, with contributions from notable figures like Peter Thiel, Lux Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Caffeinated Capital. Varda has successfully completed three missions since 2023 and plans to finish four missions this year alone.

Varda initially housed its in-space manufacturing module in a Rocket Lab spacecraft for its first three missions but has since brought all spacecraft manufacturing in-house. Additionally, the company utilizes its spacecraft as a hypersonic flight testbed for the U.S. Department of Defense, offering a more efficient and cost-effective approach to hypersonic flight testing.