Can UK Tech Firm Valarian Ensure Secure AI Deployment?

British technology company Valarian has secured a £37m (US$50m) in Series A investment. The company says its core platform, ACRA, allows organisations to deploy AI securely while keeping sensitive data within their own environment. 

The funding round has been praised by the UK’s Minister for AI and Online Safety, Kanishka Narayan.

It comes after concerns were raised that the UK is too reliant on US tech, with policy institute Chatham House arguing the UK’s dependencies on US technology run extremely deep. 

Valarian was founded by CEO Max Buchan, formerly of crypto company Coinshares and COO, Josh McLaughlin. Prior to working at  Valarian, Josh led new market expansion at US software company Palantir. 

US$50m in funding for UK 'sovereign AI’

Valarian’s US$50m funding round was led by US based venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

The round takes Valarian's total investment to £52m (US$70m) and will accelerate the rollout of the company's UK-sovereign digital architecture across government, defence and enterprise.

Max Buchan, CEO and Co-Founder of Valarian, 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.”

While the tech is focused on the UK’s sovereignty, it is heavily backed by prominent US venture firms; investors include Silicon Valley’s NEA and Chicago, Illinois, based Lightbank. XTX Ventures, Sequel and Litquidity VC, together with angel investors Gokul Rajaram and Nikesh Arora, also participated in the round. 

What is Valarian’s AI technology? 

ACRA runs high-consequence workloads inside environments users or organisations control: models, agents, custom applications, communications, each sealed in its own enclave.

Alongside ACRA, Valarian says its wider portfolio of technologies helps organisations govern, secure and scale AI across government, defence and enterprise.

Luke Pollard, the UK’s Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, comments: "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."

Britain’s tech sovereignty

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

Research from Swiss technology company Proton suggests that 88% of publicly-traded UK firms rely on US owned providers for critical tech infrastructure. 

Commenting on the investment, Kanishka Narayan, UK Minister for AI and Online Safety, 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.”

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

It has faltered on everything from foreign policy over Iran to UK drilling in the North Sea, while campaigners have increasingly voiced concerns over controversial UK Government contracts with Palantir, for example in its 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 best of the rest" behind the US and China.