Varda Space…building the future of space manufacturing
Also Capital is excited to announce our participation in Varda Space’s $9M seed raise to begin building the future of space manufacturing. Varda is a Founders Fund and Lux Capital-incubated company building the world’s first vertically-integrated microgravity-enabled manufacturing platform. Using this platform, Varda will be pioneering the production of materials off-earth that are highly valued on earth.
Bruey, one of the co-founders of Also Capital and a dear friend, and Delian, a Principal at Founders Fund and a proven backer of bold ideas and people, have assembled a truly world-class team. That team will grow at a rapid clip in the coming months across all engineering, aerospace, materials science, hardware, and software verticals (reach out to me if you’re looking for a new adventure or the ride of a lifetime!). Together with their team they are exploiting a critical moment in time for the development of a viable low earth orbit economy.
Why Now? High fixed launch costs have historically made accessing the microgravity environment of space infeasible for commercial manufacturing purposes. However, recent reductions in the per-kg launch costs have changed the entire cost equation and the trend is likely to continue, making new product applications scalable and commercially viable.
Why Also Capital? Varda perfectly encapsulates the type of team we seek to back. We invest early in great teams, reason from first principles, and are driven by fascination and excitement about an idea. To say Varda has a great team would be an understatement, and their ability to think and design from first principles has been demonstrated time and again. Lastly, it is hard NOT to be excited about the potential to play a large part in the continued commercialization of outer space. For this reason, Varda is our largest investment to date.
We’re exited to partner with Bruey, Delian, Lux, Founders Fund, and the team, and the amazing group of co-investors that will help propel this bold idea into reality.
To Infinity,
Mike
