What happened
Hark, an AI lab founded by Brett Adcock, secured $700 million in Series A funding, achieving a $6 billion post-money valuation. Parkway Venture Capital led the round, joined by Nvidia, AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, and Salesforce Ventures, among others. Hark, launched in late 2025 with Adcock's $100 million, aims to develop an agentic AI system as a universal digital interface, planning to release multimodal models this summer and dedicated hardware devices thereafter. The company, with 70 employees, operates a data centre with Nvidia B200 GPUs.
Why it matters
The substantial investment in Hark signals a shift towards vertically integrated AI solutions, where proprietary hardware and software combine to deliver consumer-focused AI. Procurement teams and investors evaluating AI platforms must recognise the increasing capital requirements for companies pursuing this full-stack approach, as evidenced by the $700 million Series A. This strategy, backed by major chipmakers, aims to create a seamless user experience by controlling both the AI models and the devices they run on, contrasting with the current market's emphasis on developer tools.
