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How Max Buchan helped take CoinShares from $0 to $50M revenue to $1.5B IPO —without VC money.
The insider story behind founding Valarian, the UK’s answer to Palantir.
Raising $20M in seed funding to build dual-use infrastructure for governments and enterprises.
The shift from crypto to defense tech and why “digital sovereignty” is the next trillion-dollar opportunity.
How Valarian attracted elite talent from Palantir, Darktrace, and top U.S. defense innovators.
Lessons for founders raising capital in deep tech and dual-use markets.
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Here’s what you’re in for:
00:00 – How CoinShares hit $50M revenue with no VC
03:30 – The problem that sparked Valarian: cross-border data control
06:00 – Pivoting from secure messaging to compliance infrastructure
08:30 – Raising $11M pre-product and landing IQ Capital & Molten Ventures
10:20 – Expanding to $20M total seed and U.S. strategic backers
13:40 – How defense tech funding evolved post-Ukraine
16:00 – Defining product-market fit for dual-use infrastructure
18:00 – Recruiting Palantir and Darktrace execs to Valarian
23:30 – Why the UK talent system lags behind the U.S.
32:00 – Operating in stealth: why Valarian waited to go public
35:30 – The hardware Pelican Case: Valarian’s deployable defense tech
37:00 – Consolidation and M&A in Europe’s defense tech ecosystem
39:00 – Advice for founders building category-defining companies
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ABOUT MAX BUCHAN
Max Buchan is the Founder and CEO of Valerian, a company building next-generation digital infrastructure to solve global data sovereignty challenges.
Before launching Valerian, Max was the first employee at CoinShares, where he worked directly with the co-founder and CEO. In just 18 months, CoinShares grew from an idea to over $55 million in revenue and nearly $2 billion in assets under management, expanding to almost 200 employees and later going public on the Nasdaq with a $1B+ valuation.
His experience scaling CoinShares across London, New York, Paris, Stockholm, and Jersey revealed a growing problem—how international companies manage data across borders. That insight inspired him to start Valerian, focused on digital sovereignty and secure global infrastructure.
Max holds a degree in History and Economics from the University of London and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list for Technology.
You can reach out to Max through:
Website: https://www.valarian.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/maxbuchan
ABOUT JASON
Jason Kirby is the Managing Partner at Thunder.VC and host of $100M Exits. He’s helped thousands of founders navigate capital raises, M&A, and exits, with a focus on tactical, data-backed strategies.
You can reach out to Jason through:
Email: jason@thunder.vc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonrkirby/
