The archive · AI & Models · Strategic decision · 2025–2026
Hark's $6B Bet: Brett Adcock Bets $700M on 'AI That Everyone Needs'
In 2025, Brett Adcock invested $100M to found Hark; in May 2026, it raised $700M at a $6B valuation, betting on full-stack personal AI.
Hark
What the business is
AI lab and hardware company building an agentic personal AI as a 'universal interface to the digital world': first release multimodal models, then launch hardware devices designed for the system.
Starting capital：$100M funded by founder's own money to start; May 2026 Series A of more than $700M, post-money valuation of $6B
How it started
At the end of 2025, Brett Adcock (founder of humanoid robot company Figure AI and electric aircraft company Archer) founded Hark with $100M of his own money. His judgment was: AI products on the market were all helping people write software and serving developers; none was a product that ordinary people found truly useful. The company started with a 70-person team, built its own data center (equipped with Nvidia B200 GPU), and brought in former Apple (苹果) product executive Abidur Chowdhury to lead design.
What happened
On May 21, 2026, Hark announced it had completed a Series A round of more than $700M at a $6B post-money valuation, led by Parkway Venture Capital, with participation from Nvidia, AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, ARK Invest, Brookfield, Greycroft, Prime Movers Lab, Align Ventures, Tamarack Global, and others. The funds will be used to recruit hardware, product design, and AI research talent, and to purchase computing power and components. The company expects to release its first multimodal models that summer, then launch hardware devices designed specifically for the system.
How it ended up
Still in progress: as of the May 2026 funding announcement, Hark had not released any product, had only about 70 employees and an undisclosed demo; multimodal models are expected to be released in summer 2026, with hardware following.
Background
Hark is an AI lab and hardware company founded by Brett Adcock at the end of 2025. On May 21, 2026, it announced completion of a Series A round of more than $700M at a $6B post-money valuation, led by Parkway Venture Capital, with participation from Nvidia, AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, ARK Invest, Brookfield, and others. The company plans to release multimodal models first, then launch companion hardware devices.
Adcock previously founded humanoid robot company Figure AI and electric aircraft company Archer, and this time started Hark with $100M of his own funds. His bet is: for personal AI to have a killer product, one company must simultaneously make models, silicon, and hardware — AI companies that only do software are helping developers write code and are not truly solving ordinary people's daily needs. Hark currently has about 70 employees, a self-built data center (Nvidia B200 GPU), and its design lead is a former Apple product executive.
The most striking aspect of this round is that Hark has disclosed almost no product details: the company only revealed that it is building 'agentic AI for interacting with the digital world', and investors were reportedly impressed by a series of demos. Questions from multiple parties focus on privacy: how to provide AI with context from users' lives without making people around them uneasy or violating privacy — Hark has not yet provided an answer.
What has to be true
- Adcock's track record of successively founding Figure AI and Archer made investors willing to give a $6B post-money valuation even without a product.
- Mainstream AI companies are all making developer tools; Hark exclusively occupies the position of 'ordinary people + native hardware' that has not been seriously occupied.
- $700M in capital is enough to simultaneously support model training, chip design, and hardware teams; full-stack in-house development has become financially feasible for the first time.
- The investor list spans chipmakers (Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm) and crossover capital (Brookfield, ARK), indicating that the industry chain views personal AI hardware as a strategic entry point.
What can be applied
Founder's own funds can leverage huge capital for full-stack development if his track record convinces investors that product-first is worth a $6B valuation.
Aftermath
As of May 21, 2026, Hark remained in early stages: about 70 employees, data center already operating, products not disclosed, multimodal models expected to be released that summer, followed by dedicated hardware. The company said the funds will be used to expand hardware, product design, and AI research teams, and to purchase computing power and components; it has not disclosed revenue or user data.
Sources
- Hark raises $700M Series A for its secretive 'universal' AI interface
- Nvidia, AMD, and Intel participated in the investment. AI startup Hark completed a $700 million financing round.
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