DNYUZ
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Television
    • Theater
    • Gaming
    • Sports
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
DNYUZ
No Result
View All Result
Home News

This new Palantir-alumni-founded startup wants to help governments and companies control their data

May 8, 2025
in News
This new Palantir-alumni-founded startup wants to help governments and companies control their data
496
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Josh McLaughlin (left) and Max Buchan (right) posing for a headshot.
Josh McLaughlin (left) and Max Buchan (right), cofounders of Valarian.

Valarian

Managing sensitive data across borders can be tricky.

Valarian cofounders Max Buchan and Josh McLaughlin experienced that firsthand after working at crypto company CoinShares and defense tech giant Palantir, respectively. Their company, which provides data protection and management, has emerged from stealth with $7 million in additional funding, bringing its seed round to $20 million raised.

National security-focused firm Scout Ventures and Artis Ventures led the round. Gokul Rajaram, a board member of Pinterest and Coinbase, also participated in the fundraise.

CEO Max Buchan said the idea for Valarian came from thinking about how easily sensitive data can end up in the wrong hands. The startup’s solution is ACRA, Valerian’s platform that keeps data separated and tightly controlled, even when it’s stored in the cloud or used by other apps.

A company can use ACRA to ingest internal communications across digital platforms and retain them securely in a given domain for compliance and record-keeping purposes, for example.

Buchan founded the London-based startup in 2020, and cofounder and chief operating officer McLaughlin joined in 2023. McLaughlin previously served as a ranger in the US Army and worked in business development at Palantir in Qatar, where he led the opening of the defense tech giant’s Doha office. Buchan met McLaughlin in Doha and was introduced to his now cofounder through another national security-focused venture capitalist.

With the new funding, Valerian plans to expand into defense, a sector that has seen a frenzy of venture investment in the months since Trump’s return to office. This follows interest from its first government customer in late 2024. The company declined to disclose the client.

“The government angle within the US was, ‘hey, can you expand this ACRA platform to have relevance to national sovereignty?'” Buchan said.

As it does with enterprise clients, Valerian’s ACRA can also ingest privileged governmental communication from Signal or WhatsApp, for example, and keep it secure in a specific territory.

Defense-focused investor Cody Huggins, a partner at Scout Ventures and a former ranger instructor who co-led the firm’s investment in Valarian, became interested in the startup’s potential to sell to the US and its allies. For this reason, Huggins backed Valarian, marking Scout Ventures’ first investment in a company headquartered outside the US or Canada.

“From where Valarian sits, they’re positioned very well where they can sell in Europe — and they can sell across the globe — because they’re a European company,” Huggins told BI. “But they also can absolutely sell in the US.”

Huggins was also compelled by the company’s stickiness with both commercial and government clients, which he said could provide some cushion against being solely defense-focused, which is “a pretty challenging space to invest in,” Huggins added.

Dual use — a term used in defense tech to describe a company’s business application in both enterprises and governments — is becoming increasingly common among national security-focused companies looking to hedge against budget cuts to the Department of Defense and the often finicky government contracting and procurement process.

Palantir, one of the most prominent dual-use examples, has both a key government business and a growing healthcare vertical. Scale AI, a startup that provides training data to companies like OpenAI, inked a deal with the Defense Department in March.

Valarian competes with security companies largely in the commercial sector. Veriti, which was backed by Insight Partners and founded by Israel intelligence veterans, has its own security posture management platform. Varonis Systems, a publicly traded company, makes a data management security platform.

Buchan is hoping to court government customers in the US and beyond. “We have a big US presence, but we’re also able to cater to this incredibly increasing European demand,” he said, “which is massive defense spending increases across continental Europe and other NATO countries.”

The post This new Palantir-alumni-founded startup wants to help governments and companies control their data appeared first on Business Insider.

Tags: acrabuchancofoundercompanydefensedefense tech giant palantirgovernmenthugginsinvestmentjosh mclaughlinplatformstartupus armyvalarianvalerian
Share198Tweet124Share
Israel Resumes Daytime Operations in Gaza City, Signaling Buildup to Assault
News

Israel Resumes Daytime Operations in Gaza City, Signaling Buildup to Assault

by New York Times
August 29, 2025

The Israeli military announced on Friday that it would end its policy of pausing daytime operations in Gaza City, which ...

Read more
News

Trump revokes Secret Service protection for former VP Harris, AP sources say

August 29, 2025
News

Justice Department pushes for access to voter records. Orange County pushes back

August 29, 2025
Culture

The Music of Millennial Idealism

August 29, 2025
News

Weapons to Start Flowing to Ukraine Under European Deal With Trump

August 29, 2025
‘It’s happening everywhere’: 1 in 3 ICE detainees held in overcrowded facilities, data show

‘It’s happening everywhere’: 1 in 3 ICE detainees held in overcrowded facilities, data show

August 29, 2025
Suspect arrested in ‘unprovoked’ L.A. gas station murder of boy in front of mother

Suspect arrested in ‘unprovoked’ L.A. gas station murder of boy in front of mother

August 29, 2025
City of Huntsville to pay over $256K to family of Public Works employee killed in July crash

City of Huntsville to pay over $256K to family of Public Works employee killed in July crash

August 29, 2025

Copyright © 2025.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Gaming
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Sports
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel

Copyright © 2025.