Valarian, a cybersecurity company specialising in enforced isolation and secure infrastructure through its ACRA platform, has officially exited stealth with a total of $20m in seed funding.
The latest $7m capital injection was co-led by Scout Ventures and Artis Ventures, both known for their defence technology focus and typically US-based investments. Angel investor Gokul Rajaram also took part, joining a roster of prior backers including Molten Ventures, IQ Capital, and MD One.
Founded by former military and finance professionals, Valarian focuses on building technology for high-trust environments where traditional IT systems are often too vulnerable. Its core offering, ACRA, is a compartmentalised infrastructure platform designed to isolate communications and data, initially tailored for regulated enterprises and now being scaled into national security contexts.
With its latest investment, Valarian is publicly launching Valarian Defence — a platform specifically built for governments and institutions operating in high-risk, mission-critical environments. This product extends the company’s existing capabilities to deployments that require government-grade infrastructure and enforced compartmentalisation.
The company said it will use the new funding to grow its government partnerships, develop new deployment models, and introduce platform-level containment strategies to replace retrofitted legacy security systems.
The team behind Valarian includes co-founder and CEO Max Buchan, a former international finance operator, and co-founder and COO Josh McLaughlin, a former U.S. Army officer and Palantir executive. Their backgrounds informed the development of ACRA, which was designed for institutions where trust in shared infrastructure is minimal or non-existent.
Valarian co-founder and CEO Max Buchan said, “We built ACRA because the environments we came from didn’t trust shared infrastructure — and now that skepticism is becoming standard. The more sophisticated the threat landscape becomes, the less room there is for improvisation in how institutions protect communications, data, and operational continuity.”
Valarian co-founder and COO Josh McLaughlin added, “Breaches don’t just leak sensitive data anymore — they disrupt discretion, decision-making, and the ability to respond. Valarian Defence is about helping governments and institutions retain control even when everything else is under stress.”
Scout Ventures partner Cody Huggins said, “Our conviction in Valarian isn’t just about the technology — it’s about what it represents: a next generation of dual-purpose software. Seeing innovation like this coming out of the UK shows how geographically global this problem set is.”
The $7m strategic funding brings Valarian’s total seed investment to $20m, reflecting strong interest from both UK and international backers in its approach to security infrastructure.
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