Valarian Secures £37 Million Series A to Build Sovereign AI Infrastructure for UK Government

London‑based startup Valarian announced a £37 million (US$50 million) Series A funding round led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), marking the venture firm’s first European defence and dual‑use technology investment. The capital will support development of the company’s ACRA platform – a control layer designed to enforce security, data sovereignty and governance for high‑consequence AI applications used by the UK government, defence sector and enterprise clients.

Valarian was co‑founded by Max Buchan and Josh McLaughlin, who identified a gap in AI infrastructure governance for critical operations. In addition to NEA, the round included investors such as Lightbank, XTX Ventures, Sequel, Litquidity VC and individual angels Gokul Rajaram and Nikesh Arora, bringing total funding to $70 million (£52 million).