The Ledger
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Asparouhov is skeptical of non-pharma microgravity manufacturing startups
“There have been a couple of companies come up, starting to try to tackle non-pharmaceutical product areas in, you know, microgravity manufacturing. And to me, I just find it quite confusing because they always phrase it as like, well, Varda is going to go to t…”
Asparouhov: FAA delay forced Varda into eight-month hold and extra dilution
“Software companies don't have to deal with the FAA, putting them on hold for eight months. During those eight months, I had employees, we had Bern, we had an office, right? Like, you know, that's got to come out of somewhere, mostly ends up coming out of the f…”
Asparouhov: SpaceX is already the next-generation space defense prime
“The next generation space defense prime is SpaceX. They're the largest space defense prime. They have the largest contracts in that field. They are the long tail winner.”
Varda Space will achieve multiple launches and landings per quarter by 2026
“There is going to be a launch or landing for every board meeting this year. By next year, it's going to be, there's going to be a launch and landing between every board meeting. And by the end of that year, it's going to be multiple launches and landings, you …”
Asparouhov: Varda per-mission cost will drop to $3.5M–$4M by mission six
“By our, you know, sort of fifth or sixth mission, we expect our per mission cost to be, you know, sort of three and a half, four million dollars.”
Asparouhov: Varda will focus on pharma before becoming orbital contract manufacturer
“I, you know, sort of tell investors, look, we are going to be a pharma company. And then over time, as we build up our platform, I'm happy to be a contract manufacturer. I don't expect in the future that we are also going to want to be A semiconductor company …”
Asparouhov: All Varda contracts include revenue upside sharing on compounds
“In all the VARDA contracts we have to date, we not only you know, do some amount of payment for the actual user flight discovery of the new, you know, sort of pharmaceutical product, but then we also get to participate, you know, in a risk sharing model where …”
Asparouhov: Varda competes with terrestrial alternatives, not human-rated space platforms
“The real competition for Varda is not you know, these human rated platforms. They're so far off in economics. The real competition is like, can you actually do this in a way that, you know, integrates into people's terrestrial users, supply chains and terrestr…”
Stephens: Founders Fund Culture Supports Partners Co-Founding Companies
“We have no build program, there's no incubation policy or anything like that at Founders Fund, but, you know, Peter started Palantir. I started Anderil. Scott Nolan started General Matter. Delia and Esperohov started Varda, and it's just kind of part of the cu…”
Asparouhov: Emailed capsule photos to 15 early critics upon Varda's US landing
“When we landed our capsule most of the team was focused on, you know, sort of celebrating, they were going out and having a good time. I instead was focused on emailing, you know, like, you know, 15 earliest haters that said we would never land a re-entry caps…”