VP Solutions Engineering · Airia

I turn AI ambition into systems enterprises can trust.

I’m Dave Horton, a player-coach technical leader who builds global teams, wins complex decisions and stays close enough to the technology to ship what was promised.

See the story LinkedIn

Dave HortonVP Solutions Engineering, Airia2024 - present · London, UK

The route · 2012 to nowFour chapters

2012$1.54Bacquired by VMware, chapter 01: AirWatch
2016
2016$5.3Bpeak valuation, chapter 02: OneTrust
2020
2021$54MSeries C, chapter 03: Odaseva
2024$100Mfounder funding, chapter 04: Airia

The thread

Build the team. Win the room. Ship the thing.

I’ve spent my career at the point where new technology meets enterprise reality: first mobility, then privacy and data resilience, now AI governance and agents.

Three times I’ve joined early and helped build the technical function from the ground up. The titles grew, but the job stayed recognisable: make the hard thing clear, assemble an excellent team, and turn technical confidence into durable growth.

By the numbers

$1.3B+

raised in venture capital by AirWatch, OneTrust and Odaseva, the start-ups where I served as a principal technologist.

About $689M of it while I was there: $225M AirWatch,$410M OneTrust,$54M Odaseva

0→600customersAiria, in under two years
~30technical teambuilt across five regions
200+enterprise winsmultinationals at OneTrust
2×unicorn journeysjoined pre-Series A, both passed $1B

The story · 2012 to now

Four start-ups. Four funding journeys.

Twice I joined a founder-funded start-up before its first outside round, and both went on to pass $1B. Then Odaseva: joined after its Series B, left after its $54M Series C. Now Airia.

Each chapter sets where I came in, and where I left, against the funding rounds, valuations and exits on the public record. Every figure links to its source.

012012 - 2016AirWatchIn Pre-Series A (founder-funded)$1.54Bacquired by VMwareChapter 01
022016 - 2020OneTrustIn Pre-Series A (bootstrapped, founding year)$5.3Bpeak valuation, April 2021Chapter 02
032021 - 2024OdasevaIn Post-Series B$54MSeries C, led by Silver Lake WatermanChapter 03
042024 - presentAiriaIn Founder-funded, before any outside round$100Mfounder funding, September 2025Chapter 04

Chapter 012012 - 2016Mobility

Acquired
by

AirWatch

Joined · Feb 2012: Pre-Series A (founder-funded)
Left · Jan 2016: After the VMware acquisition

$1.54B

acquired by VMwareExit · 22 Jan 2014

Joined while AirWatch was still bootstrapped by its founders, a year before its first outside capital, a $200M Series A. VMware agreed to acquire it for $1.54B in January 2014.

Feb 2012
Joined AirWatch
Pre-Series A. AirWatch had been bootstrapped by its founders since 2003 and took no outside capital until a year later.
Source
24 Feb 2013
Series A: $200M
AirWatch's first outside capital, led by Insight Venture Partners and announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Source
16 May 2013
Series A extension: $25M
Led by Accel with Insight Venture Partners participating, taking the Series A to $225M. TechCrunch reported, citing sources, that the round valued AirWatch at just over $1B; the company did not disclose a valuation.
Source
22 Jan 2014
VMware agrees to acquire AirWatch (deal value $1.54B)
Definitive agreement for about $1.175B in cash plus about $365M of instalment payments and assumed unvested equity.
Source
24 Feb 2014
Acquisition completes
VMware completes its purchase of AirWatch's holding company, A.W.S. Holding, LLC.
Source
Jan 2016
Left VMware
Nearly two years after the acquisition closed, with AirWatch part of VMware's End-User Computing group.
Source

Chapter 01 · The work

Senior Sales Engineer, EMEA

VMware / AirWatch · 2012 - 2016

Early EMEA technical hire, through hypergrowth and acquisition.

Early EMEA hire at then-startup AirWatch (acquired by VMware, 2014); principal engineer on 150+ closed enterprise opportunities.
Subject matter expert for AirWatch architecture, VMware Identity and the Windows Phone platform; deals worth millions in revenue.
Public technical face of the company at Mobile World Congress and InfoSecurity, presenting to audiences in the hundreds.

Chapter 022016 - 2020Privacy

OneTrust

Joined · Nov 2016: Pre-Series A (bootstrapped, founding year)
Left · Jun 2020: After the Series B ($2.7B valuation)

$5.3B

peak valuation, April 2021Still private, no exit

Joined in OneTrust's founding year, while it was bootstrapped and before its first outside funding; it became a unicorn on that first round in 2019 and was valued at $2.7B by the time of leaving in 2020. Its valuation peaked at $5.3B in 2021, and as of September 2026 it remains private, with no exit.

Nov 2016
Joined OneTrust
In OneTrust's founding year (2016), while it was bootstrapped by its management team and before its first outside funding.
Source
11 Jul 2019
Series A: $200M, valued at $1.3B (valuation $1.3B)
OneTrust's first outside funding, led by Insight Partners. Unicorn status on its first round, three years after founding.
Source
20 Feb 2020
Series B: $210M, valued at $2.7B (valuation $2.7B)
Co-led by Coatue and Insight Partners, taking total investment to $410M.
Source
Jun 2020
Left OneTrust
After the Series B. The last published valuation before leaving was $2.7B.
Source
21 Dec 2020
Series C: $300M, valued at $5.1B (valuation $5.1B)
Led by TCV, joined by existing investors including Insight Partners and Coatue.
Source
8 Apr 2021
Series C extension: $210M, valued at $5.3B (valuation $5.3B)
Led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with Franklin Templeton, taking total funding to $920M. OneTrust's peak published valuation.
Source
24 Jul 2023
Growth round: $150M, valued at $4.5B (valuation $4.5B)
Led by Generation Investment Management with Sands Capital, taking total funding past $1B. The latest published valuation, below the 2021 peak.
Source

Chapter 02 · The work

Sales Engineering Manager, EMEA

OneTrust · 2016 - 2020

Scaled EMEA from first technical hire to a 25-person team.

Built the region's technical pre-sales function while the European headquarters grew from one person to 400.

Led technical engagements with more than 200 multinational enterprises.
Translated GDPR, CCPA and ePrivacy into practical enterprise implementations.
Also led global eCommerce delivery, doubling new-customer acquisition every quarter in 2019.

Chapter 032021 - 2024Data resilience

Odaseva

Joined · Aug 2021: Post-Series B
Left · Sep 2024: After the $54M Series C

$54M

Series C, led by Silver Lake WatermanNo valuation disclosed

Joined Odaseva, an enterprise data security platform for Salesforce, after its $25M Series B, and left three months after its $54M Series C led by Silver Lake Waterman. No valuation has been disclosed for any round.

28 Feb 2019
Series A: $11.7M
Led by Partech with new investor Salesforce Ventures and existing investor Serena, taking total funding to $14M.
Source
27 Oct 2020
Series B: $25M
Led by Eight Roads Ventures with new investor F-Prime Capital and existing backers Partech, Salesforce Ventures and Serena, taking total funding to $40M.
Source
Aug 2021
Joined Odaseva
Post-Series B, ten months after the $25M round.
Source
27 Jun 2024
Series C: $54M
Equity financing led by Silver Lake Waterman, with existing investors F-Prime, Eight Roads and Serena Capital and new investors Eurazeo and Crescent Cove. Total funding passes $90M. No valuation disclosed.
Source
Sep 2024
Left Odaseva
Three months after the Series C was announced.
Source

Chapter 03 · The work

SVP Solutions Engineering

Odaseva · 2021 - 2024

Turned solutions engineering into a global growth function.

Promoted from VP to SVP while expanding the remit across technical pre-sales and customer implementation.

Led a team spanning Sydney to California, from early-career hires to enterprise Salesforce architects.
Drove analyst and venture-capital engagement that helped secure the $54M Series C.
Connected data management, security and privacy for complex Salesforce estates.

Chapter 042024 - presentAI governance

Airia

Joined · Sep 2024: Founder-funded, before any outside round
Since Sep 2024: VP Solutions Engineering

$100M

founder funding, September 2025No valuation published

Co-founded by John Marshall, who co-founded AirWatch and was OneTrust's co-chairman until 2023; joined in 2024 as Airia emerged from stealth. Founder-funded, with no institutional round or valuation announced, it reported more than 500 paying customers and about 170 employees in March 2026.

Sep 2024
Joined Airia
Founder-funded and before any outside round, as Airia emerged from stealth in 2024.
Source
16 Sep 2025
$100M founder funding
$50M invested to date plus a further $50M committed, all from co-founder John Marshall. Not a named venture round, and no valuation was published.
Source
Present
VP Solutions Engineering
Built a global technical organisation for secure enterprise AI, from first customer to 600.

Chapter 04 · The work

VP Solutions Engineering

Airia AI · 2024 - present

Built the technical engine behind growth from zero to 600 customers.

Joined at zero customers and built the global Solutions Engineering function that helped take Airia to 600 customers in under two years.

Built and developed a ~30-person team across the US, EMEA, MENA, APAC and ANZ.
Led the technical path from qualification and statement of work through production deployment.
Opened technical partnerships with Intel and Anthropic and led strategic work including Williams Racing.
Built internal agents, RAG systems and competitive-intelligence tools adopted across a 200-person company.

Partnerships

Credentials

Fluent in the boardroom. Credible in the architecture review.

Independent credentials across AI governance, security and privacy, backed by current, hands-on work with agentic systems.

Anthropic · Claude

Four certifications. Architecture through development.

Clearance: UK SC clearance, renewed 2026.
Education: BSc (Hons) Computing Systems, First class honours · University of Northampton.
Speaking: Speaker at major industry events across security, financial services and government, including Gartner, InfoSec Europe and Black Hat.
Analyst recognition: Principal technologist behind Airia’s recognition as a Visionary in the first Gartner Magic Quadrant for AI Governance.

How I work

Leadership with fingerprints on it.

The work crosses company building, enterprise architecture, customer strategy and hands-on engineering. These are the four moves I come back to.

01. Build from zero
Create the team, operating rhythm and technical standards before there is a playbook. Hire people who can explain, design and deliver, then give them room to lead.
02. Earn the technical decision
Turn an ambitious brief into a credible architecture, a useful demonstration and a delivery plan. Make risk legible without making progress feel impossible.
03. Carry the promise into production
Stay accountable beyond the demo. Connect discovery, commercial scope and implementation so customers receive what the room agreed to buy.
04. Create leverage
Convert repeated expertise into reusable systems: reference architectures, enablement, agents, RAG tools, evaluation patterns and better ways of working.

Career · 2012 to present

The same pattern at every scale.

Enter early, make the technical story credible, build the function and leave it stronger than I found it.

01
VMware / AirWatch
Senior Sales Engineer, EMEA
Early EMEA technical hire through hypergrowth and acquisition; principal engineer on 150+ enterprise wins.
In: Pre-Series A (founder-funded)Chapter 01 · $1.54B acquired by VMware
2012 - 2016
02
Vodafone
Senior Solutions Architect
Designed infrastructure, security and end-user computing solutions for strategic and government accounts.
2016
03
OneTrust
Sales Engineering Manager, EMEA
Established the EMEA technical function and helped more than 200 multinationals operationalise privacy.
In: Pre-Series A (bootstrapped, founding year)Chapter 02 · $5.3B peak valuation, April 2021
2016 - 2020
04
SHI International Corp
Security Architecture Practice Manager, EMEA
Created SHI's EMEA security architecture practice, partner strategy and consulting roadmap.
2020 - 2021
05
Odaseva
SVP Solutions Engineering
Scaled global solutions engineering across pre-sales, implementation and enterprise data resilience.
In: Post-Series BChapter 03 · $54M Series C, led by Silver Lake Waterman
2021 - 2024
06
Airia AI
VP Solutions Engineering
Built a global technical organisation for secure enterprise AI, from first customer to 600.
In: Founder-funded, before any outside roundChapter 04 · $100M founder funding, September 2025
2024 - now

Technical depth

Strategy above. Systems underneath.

I lead from the front: building agents and integrations, reviewing architectures and working directly on the accounts where the technical answer matters most.

Agentic systems

I still build. That keeps the strategy honest and lets me recognise the difference between a convincing demo and a system that will survive production.

Agentic AI
Multi-agent orchestration
MCP
RAG
Agent skills
Evals & guardrails

Trust architecture

Security, privacy and governance are design inputs, not paperwork at the end. I translate regulation into decisions engineers and executives can act on.

AI security
EU AI Act
NIST AI RMF
ISO 42001
Zero trust
SSO / SAML
DLP

Enterprise ecosystems

The value usually lives between platforms. I work comfortably across the architecture, commercial context and partner relationships needed to connect them.