Reimagining biodefense at the intersection of AI, biology and urgency.
Updated
January 8, 2026 6:34 PM
Through computational tools, Valthos analyzes biological data to design adaptive solutions against emerging threats. PHOTO: VALTHOS
Valthos has raised US$30 million in seed funding, led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, Lux Capital and Founders Fund, to advance its mission of building next-generation biodefense systems.
The company’s work comes at a time when biotechnology is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Biotechnology is moving at record speed. These new tools can lead to life-changing medical discoveries, but they also bring the risk of dangerous biological agents being developed faster than ever.
“The issue at the core of biodefense is asymmetry”, said Kathleen McMahon, co-founder of Valthos. “It’s easier to make a pathogen than a cure. We’re building tools to help experts at the frontlines of biodefense move as fast as the threats they face”. The gap Valthos aims to close is between the rapid rise of biological threats and the slower pace of developing cures. Therefore, the company is developing AI systems that can rapidly analyze biological sequences and significantly shorten the time needed to design medical countermeasures.
“In this new world, the only way forward is to be faster. So we set out to build a new tech stack for biodefense”, said Tess van Stekelenburg, co-founder of Valthos. “This software infrastructure strengthens biodefense today and lays the groundwork for the adaptive, precision therapeutics of tomorrow”.
The company was founded by van Stekelenburg, a partner at Lux Capital and McMahon, the former head of Palantir’s Life Sciences division. Together, they’ve built a multidisciplinary team of experts from Palantir, DeepMind, Stanford’s Arc Institute and MIT’s Broad Institute, bringing together deep experience in software engineering, machine learning and biotechnology.
“Technology is moving fast. An industrial ecosystem of builders, companies and solutions further democratizes AI to provide broad resilience, and ensures the U.S. continues to lead as AI increasingly powers everything around us. As AI and biotech rapidly advance, biodefense is one of the new industry verticals that helps maximize the benefits and minimize the risks”, said Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s Chief Strategy Officer. “Valthos is pushing the frontier of protection and defense in one of the most strategic intersections of multiple world-changing technologies, and with the team to do it”.
Looking ahead, Valthos plans to expand its engineering team and scale its software infrastructure for both government and commercial partners — moving closer to its goal of enabling faster, smarter and more adaptive biodefense capabilities.
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The US$50.8 million deal strengthens TECO’s push into modular infrastructure and faster data center deployment across Southeast Asia.
Updated
May 26, 2026 5:39 PM
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
TECO Electric & Machinery is expanding further into Southeast Asia’s AI data center infrastructure market through a new acquisition in Malaysia.
The Taiwan-based company has signed an agreement to acquire approximately 78 percent of Malaysian engineering firm Dynaciate Engineering in a deal valued at around MYR 200 million (US$50.8 million). According to TECO, the acquisition is aimed at strengthening its modular data center manufacturing capabilities and supporting its expansion across Southeast Asia’s data center infrastructure sector.
Under the agreement, Dynaciate will become TECO’s global manufacturing hub for modular data center and power equipment products. The company will also serve as an engineering hub supporting TECO’s regional expansion efforts, particularly in AI data center infrastructure projects.
TECO Chairman Morris Li said the integration between both companies has improved execution efficiency and increased the company’s in-house modular prefabrication capabilities. According to the company, the collaboration has reduced data center delivery timelines to as little as six months.
Dynaciate is headquartered in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Its facilities span approximately 36,000 square meters and include eight production buildings focused on stainless steel and carbon steel fabrication. The company said the site is also eligible for export tax incentives that support future global supply chain deployment.
According to TECO, Dynaciate has experience in engineering, steel fabrication and large-scale industrial projects for multinational corporations. The company added that Dynaciate has expanded into the data center engineering market since 2025 through projects involving international cloud service provider clients.
TECO estimates that after the acquisition, around 65 percent of future data center-related revenue will come from modular data centers and prefabricated products, while the remaining 35 percent will come from AI data center engineering projects. The company also forecasts that data center-related revenue within its Power & Energy Business Group will rise from below 10 percent to 30 percent this year.
Dynaciate CEO Ng Kim Thiea said the company is entering a new phase of growth through the partnership with TECO. He added that Dynaciate has extensive experience supporting engineering and industrial projects across the region.
The acquisition marks a further expansion of TECO’s presence in the AI data center infrastructure sector as companies continue increasing investments in modular infrastructure and regional engineering capacity.