How Valarian's US$50m Funding Promises Sovereign AI for UK

British technology company Valarian has closed a £37m (US$50m) funding round.

The investment could accelerate deployment of secure infrastructure designed to keep sensitive data within organisational boundaries.

According to Valarian, its core platform ACRA allows organisations to run workloads securely while keeping sensitive data within their own environment.

The funding arrives amid concerns about UK reliance on US technology providers for critical infrastructure.

UK tech dependency concerns

Policy institute Chatham House has argued that UK dependencies on US technology run deep.

According to research from Swiss technology company Proton, 88% of publicly traded UK firms rely on US owned providers for critical tech infrastructure.

Major US organisations Microsoft, Palantir and Amazon are embedded within the UK tech economy.

Bringing sovereign AI to the UK, Valarian was founded by Chief Executive Officer Max Buchan, formerly of crypto company Coinshares, and Chief Operating Officer Josh McLaughlin.

Josh previously led new market expansion at US software company Palantir.

The round takes Valarian's total investment to £52m (US$70m).

Investors include Silicon Valley based New Enterprise Associates and Chicago based Lightbank.

XTX Ventures, Sequel and Litquidity VC also participated in the round alongside angel investors Gokul Rajaram and Nikesh Arora.

Sovereign digital infrastructure deployment

Max Buchan says the investment will accelerate rollout of UK sovereign digital architecture across government, defence and enterprise.

Max says: "We've always believed Britain has the talent and ambition to be a global leader in AI. To do that, we need to build the sovereign digital infrastructure that allows government, defence and enterprise to adopt AI securely while remaining in control of their own data."

"This investment allows us to accelerate that work, strengthen sovereign AI capabilities and ensure more of the technology underpinning our future is built here in Britain."

According to Valarian, ACRA runs high consequence workloads inside environments users or organisations control. Models, agents, custom applications and communications each operate in sealed enclaves.

Defence and security applications

Luke Pollard, the UK's Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, commented on the announcement. He says: "To strengthen our national security, we need more innovative British companies like Valarian building the technologies that will define our future."

"This announcement is a strong vote of confidence in the UK's world-leading defence and dual-use technology sector, and in the UK's ability to build the critical capabilities our security and prosperity depend on."

Kanishka Narayan, UK Minister for AI and Online Safety, also responded to the funding. He says: "Today, AI is the defining currency of both hard and soft power. To shape our own destiny, in accordance with our values, it is imperative that we build Britain's sovereign AI capabilities.

"Pioneering British companies like Valarian understand the challenge that's in front of us and are building the solutions that will help us deliver a safer and stronger Britain.

"Investments like these are helping to keep the UK at the frontier of AI development, and complement the work we're doing through our Sovereign AI Fund, AI Hardware Plan and more to build Britain's AI strengths."

UK and US technology relations

US and UK relations have been strained in recent times despite the so called special relationship between the two countries.

Relations have faltered on issues ranging from foreign policy over Iran to UK drilling in the North Sea. Campaigners have voiced concerns over UK Government contracts with Palantir, including work within the National Health Service.

In an article titled What the UK government should do on AI and tech policy, Chatham House argues the US and the UK are commercially entwined but normatively estranged. It says Britain's first task is to make the country AI ready, not just AI adjacent – the think tank describes this as becoming "the best of the rest" behind the US and China.