California-based Varda Space Industries has hit a total of $598m to support its space-based manufacturing ambitions.
Most recently, $251m was raised from investors in a Series D financing round, a later-stage investment used by companies to fund further growth and expansion, as it works to scale its pharmaceutical processing operations in space.
The latest investment brings Varda's total capital raised to $598m.
Varda develops orbital processing platforms designed to manufacture materials in microgravity before returning them to Earth.
The company is applying the technology to pharmaceutical manufacturing, investigating whether processing in microgravity can produce active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and drug formulations with properties that are difficult to achieve under terrestrial conditions.
Processing pharmaceuticals in microgravity
Varda's W-Series spacecraft are its orbital manufacturing vehicles, combining a processing module with a re-entry capsule.
They carry materials into low Earth orbit, where they can be processed in microgravity before being returned to Earth.
The company said the absence of gravity can enable APIs to crystallise in ways that are not possible under terrestrial conditions, creating opportunities for new drug formulations.
Pharmaceutical crystallisation is one of the main applications being investigated by Varda, with the company working with pharmaceutical partners to assess whether its orbital processing platform can produce materials with different properties from those manufactured on Earth.
The company said it has completed six successful re-entry missions since its first mission launched in 2023, with more than a dozen additional launches and re-entries planned through 2028.
Scaling orbital manufacturing
The latest funding will be used to increase the frequency of Varda's missions, expand its pharmaceutical partnerships and develop its manufacturing infrastructure.
On 1 October, Varda announced that two of its W-Series spacecraft had launched on the same rocket for the first time.
The W-8 and W-9 vehicles were launched aboard SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The company said operating multiple spacecraft will support a higher mission cadence as it scales its in-space manufacturing operations.
Varda's longer-term goal is to produce pharmaceuticals in space for use by patients on Earth.
The latest investment follows $187m in Series C funding raised in 2025 and $90m in Series B funding raised in 2024, which Varda used to develop its in-space manufacturing and re-entry capabilities.
