What does it take to create the first essential AI consumer product? Perhaps $700 million.
This is the amount Hark, an AI lab focused on developing models and hardware for an AI personal assistant, claims to have raised in a Series A round that values the company at $6 billion post-funding.
The massive funding was led by Parkway Venture Capital and included contributions from Align Ventures, AMD Ventures, ARK Invest, Brookfield, Greycroft, Intel Capital, Prime Movers Lab, Qualcomm Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Tamarack Global.
The intriguing aspect of this fundraising is the limited information Hark has disclosed about its project. Brett Adcock, founder and CEO, who previously launched robotics firm Figure.AI and electric aircraft maker Archer, started Hark in late 2025, investing $100 million of his own funds to create an agentic AI system—a universal interface for the digital realm.
Hark plans to unveil its initial multi-modal models this summer to support a personal AI platform compatible with current products and services, followed by hardware devices tailored for these systems.
The newly acquired capital will go toward hiring top-tier talent in hardware, product design, and AI research, and securing computing resources and components. The company now employs 70 people and operates a data facility with Nvidia B200 GPUs.
Abidur Chowdhury, previously an Apple product executive and now Hark’s director of design, refrained from providing specifics about his work in an interview with TechCrunch, though he noted that investors were impressed by his team’s demonstrations.
Chowdhury remarked on the existing AI products, stating, “I haven’t seen anything that feels like something that will really help the normal person.” He added that AI tools are mostly designed for software development and impactful tasks but haven’t significantly benefited everyday users yet.
Chowdhury highlighted that while Anthropic and OpenAI are focusing on coding tools, few companies are exclusively developing interfaces and dedicated hardware like Hark. “With this focus, with this great team that we have, and this round that we’ve raised, I think we can make something really special in this space,” he said.
Still, there are more challenges than solutions. One key issue is integrating an AI assistant into a user’s life without infringing on privacy or causing discomfort to those around them. Wearables like Meta’s current glasses or upcoming Android glasses have yet to resolve this issue. When asked about addressing this challenge, Chowdhury only offered a smile.
“Sounds like that would make a great product.”