Valarian, a London-based startup developing sovereign AI infrastructure, has raised $50 million in a Series A funding round to accelerate product development and expand its presence in enterprise and defense markets.
The round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and brings the company’s total funding to $70 million.
Founded by Max Buchan and Josh McLaughlin, Valarian develops infrastructure designed to help organizations retain control over artificial intelligence workloads and critical digital operations, particularly in sectors such as defense, finance and government.
Funding to Expand Enterprise and Defense Platforms
Valarian said the new funding will support the expansion of two core product offerings: Valarian Enterprise, aimed at organizations requiring governance and isolation for AI workloads, and Valarian Defence, designed for sovereign governments and national security applications.
The company also plans to continue developing ACRA, its Kubernetes-based control architecture that enables organizations to manage encryption, access policies and communications for AI applications while maintaining ownership of their infrastructure.
According to Valarian, its platform has already deployed hundreds of isolated computing environments across four continents.
Demand Grows for Sovereign AI Infrastructure
Valarian said demand for sovereign AI infrastructure is increasing as governments and enterprises seek greater control over sensitive AI systems and cloud environments.
Chief Executive Officer Max Buchan said organizations need infrastructure that embeds sovereignty into the underlying architecture rather than relying on third-party platforms.
“We built Valarian because sovereignty isn’t a feature you can add later. It’s architecture you have to build from the ground up.”
The funding round also included participation from Lightbank, XTX Markets, Sequel, LitVC, and angel investors Gokul Rajaram and Nikesh Arora. Existing investors include Scout Ventures, Artis Ventures, IQ Capital and Molten Ventures.
Valarian was founded in 2020 in London. The company’s chairman is Nick Trim, co-founder and former chief operating officer of cybersecurity company Darktrace.