Hark, the artificial intelligence hardware startup helmed by serial entrepreneur Brett Adcock, has secured more than $700 million in a Series A funding round that values the company at approximately $6 billion, according to a report from Bloomberg. The round closed roughly two months after Hark emerged from stealth mode, placing it among the most heavily capitalized early-stage AI hardware ventures before it has shipped a single product.

Parkway Venture Capital led the round, supported by a constellation of investors that reads like a who’s who of the semiconductor and cloud infrastructure ecosystem: Nvidia, AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures all contributed, alongside Salesforce Ventures, Brookfield, ARK Invest, Greycroft, Prime Movers Lab, Align Ventures, and Tamarack Global. Several of these names sit on multiple sides of the AI hardware question, underscoring the strategic importance of Hark’s approach.

Brett Adcock’s track record

Adcock founded Hark in late 2025 with $100 million of his own capital, following a string of successful ventures in recruiting, aviation, robotics, and security. He co-founded Vettery, a recruiting marketplace that sold to Adecco for $100 million; Archer Aviation, an electric aircraft maker that went public via SPAC in 2021; Figure, a humanoid robotics company where he remains CEO; and Cover, a school-security platform. Each company tackled a frontier market with high technical risk and long development cycles, a pattern Adcock is now applying to AI hardware.

His experience at Figure, in particular, has given him firsthand insight into the challenges of integrating AI models with physical devices. Figure’s humanoid robots rely on onboard AI for perception and manipulation, and Adcock has spoken publicly about the need for custom silicon and tightly coupled software stacks to achieve real-time performance. That philosophy carries directly into Hark’s mission.

What Hark is building

Hark describes itself as developing a “personal AI platform” that pairs in-house foundation models, custom software, and native hardware with new user interfaces. Rather than focusing on a single layer of the technology stack, the company aims to integrate model, chip, and device from day one, a strategy that echoes Apple’s vertical integration but applied to the nascent category of AI wearables and personal assistants.

According to an announcement from BusinessWire in March, Hark intends to release its first multimodal models this summer. These models are expected to handle text, image, audio, and video inputs, and will be optimized for the company’s own silicon, which remains under wraps. The form factor of the hardware device, whether a wearable, a handheld, or something else entirely, has not been disclosed. Nor has the target price, launch market, or customer pipeline.

The AI hardware graveyard

Hark enters a category littered with high-profile failures. Humane’s AI Pin, a wearable that projected a laser display onto the user’s palm, was widely panned after its 2024 launch for poor battery life, overheating, and limited functionality. The Rabbit R1, a pocket-sized AI assistant, suffered from software glitches and underwhelming performance. Even Apple, with its vast hardware distribution network and deep software expertise, has spent the past year refining its approach to on-device AI after the Vision Pro’s mixed reception.

The core challenge for AI hardware companies is twofold: first, building a model and chip that can deliver genuinely useful intelligence in real-time without draining a battery; second, convincing consumers to adopt a new device category when smartphones already offer many of the same capabilities through cloud-connected apps. Several well-funded, well-credentialled teams have tried and failed to crack this nut, and Hark will need to navigate the same treacherous landscape.

Adcock’s bet is that vertical integration can solve the first part of the problem. By designing the foundation models and the silicon together, Hark can optimize for power efficiency, latency, and privacy, while the hardware form factor can be tuned to the unique requirements of a personal AI assistant. That level of co-design is rare among AI hardware startups, which often rely on off-the-shelf chips from Qualcomm or Mediatek and generic cloud APIs from OpenAI or Anthropic.

The significance of chipmaker investments

The presence of Nvidia, AMD, Intel Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures on Hark’s cap table is notable for several reasons. First, it signals that the largest players in the chip ecosystem see Hark as a potential customer or partner for their AI accelerators, rather than a competitor. Second, it provides Hark with supply allocation guarantees, a critical advantage in a market where advanced chips remain in short supply well into 2026. Third, it gives Hark access to engineering resources and roadmaps that can accelerate its own silicon development.

Nvidia, in particular, has been aggressive in backing AI hardware startups that complement its data center business. By investing in Hark, Nvidia gains exposure to the edge AI market without having to build its own device. AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm are similarly hedging their bets. The involvement of these chipmakers also provides a degree of validation for Hark’s technical direction, though it does not guarantee commercial success.

Market context and competitive landscape

The personal AI hardware market is still in its infancy, but it is already crowded. Beyond Humane and Rabbit, companies such as Rewind AI, Brilliant Labs, and Iyo have introduced or are developing AI devices that range from pendants to glasses. Each takes a different approach to interface and model architecture, but none has achieved mainstream adoption. The total addressable market remains hypothetical, and consumer willingness to pay for a dedicated AI assistant is unproven.

Hark’s $6 billion valuation before shipping a product is extraordinary, even by the standards of the post-ChatGPT boom. It reflects the confidence that venture capital has in Brett Adcock’s ability to execute, as well as the perceived value of a fully integrated AI hardware stack. However, it also raises the bar for the company’s eventual product. Investors will expect a premium device, priced accordingly, that delivers a tangible step-change over smartphone-based AI assistants.

Financial details and runway

The $700 million Series A is one of the largest early-stage rounds in AI hardware history. It gives Hark a substantial cash runway to develop its models, chip, and device, and to build a go-to-market organization. The company has not disclosed its headcount, but given the scale of the funding, it is likely hiring aggressively across hardware engineering, AI research, software, and operations.

By the company’s own timeline, the first models are weeks away; the device that turns those models into a business is still further out. Product-market fit remains the ultimate unknown, but Hark now has the capital, the talent, and the industry backing to attempt something that few others have the resources to try. Whether it succeeds or joins the list of cautionary tales will depend on execution, timing, and a measure of luck in a market that is still being defined.

Source: TNW | Investors-Funding News