Varda Space Industries, a California-based aerospace and life sciences company, announced it has raised $187 million in a Series C funding round to accelerate its efforts in microgravity-enabled pharmaceutical manufacturing. The new investment brings Varda’s total capital raised to $329 million, the company said.
Varda’s orbital labs, built to operate independently of the International Space Station, are designed to support crystallization of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in microgravity. According to the company, the process results in novel drug formulations that are difficult or impossible to replicate under Earth-based conditions.
The company has completed three successful spaceflight and reentry missions since launching its first mission in 2023, with a fourth mission currently in orbit and a fifth expected to launch later this year.
The new capital will help Varda increase its flight cadence and enable more robust research and process development for microgravity-manufactured medicines, CEO Will Bruey said.
To support in-house pharmaceutical development, Varda has opened a 10,000-square-foot laboratory in El Segundo, California. The facility will focus on crystallizing complex biologics, including monoclonal antibodies, with the goal of enabling new therapeutic capabilities. The company said it has assembled a team of structural biologists and crystallization scientists with experience at major pharmaceutical companies.
As of 2022, the market size for monoclonal antibodies is estimated to be $210.06 billion.