Akara is working to bring physical AI to hospital operations, addressing critical labor and capacity bottlenecks.
LOS ANGELES (Nov. 11, 2026) – Akara, a healthcare technology company developing AI for hospital operations, today announced $5.5 million in funding, bringing its total to $12.3 million. The company combines privacy-preserving sensors with robots and AI tools to help hospitals reduce administrative work, coordinate services and treat more patients.
The round was led by Locke Health, with participation from VTC Ventures, the EIC Fund, CommonKind and NovaVector Holdings, alongside existing investors ACT, Atlantic Bridge and Enterprise Ireland, and a number of strategic angel investors.
With more than 40% of U.S. hospitals operating at a loss, providers face growing pressure to improve efficiency. Hospitals urgently need to streamline everyday workflows, where manual data entry and fragmented communication consume valuable staff time and create bottlenecks in patient care.
Akara’s proprietary wall-mounted sensors automatically capture how clinical spaces are used. Its software acts like an air traffic controller, detecting key events and notifying staff when they are needed. AI agents allow staff to ask questions about the data in natural language and generate reports, reducing the effort required to turn operational information into practical improvements.
Dr. Conor McGinn, co-founder and CEO of Akara, said: “Hospitals are under enormous pressure to do more with the people and resources they already have. We want to give staff time back and help hospitals treat more patients. To achieve that sustainably and at scale, the technology has to protect privacy, be straightforward to deploy and affordable. Combining thermal sensing with AI that runs on the device makes those goals central to how our technology works.”
Akara’s approach creates a foundation for physical AI in hospitals: systems that understand activity in the real world and help coordinate what happens next. By connecting reliable operational data with AI agents and robotics, the company aims to automate a growing range of tasks, from reporting and scheduling to coordinating activity across clinical spaces.
The round includes healthcare specialist venture capital firms Virginia Tech Carilion (VTC) Ventures, Locke Health and CommonKind. VTC Ventures connects Akara to the Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic ecosystem, while Locke Health brings extensive healthcare sales, business development and operational expertise from leadership roles at Cerner and Oracle Health.
Patrick Brennan, Managing Director of Locke Health, said: “Our team brings deep experience in healthcare commercialization and a clear understanding of what hospitals need to adopt new technology. Akara stands out for its potential to deliver a compelling return on investment without placing heavy demands on hospital budgets, infrastructure or staff. We believe it could be a disruptive force in healthcare, and we’re excited to help the team turn that potential into widespread adoption and measurable impact.”
James Ramey, Managing Director of VTC Ventures, said: “Hospitals need AI that can deliver practical improvements without adding significant cost or integration complexity. The progress in ambient documentation offers an encouraging example, and we see substantial potential in extending that intelligence to activity across clinical spaces. Akara makes this more accessible through thermal sensing and on-device AI, addressing critical privacy concerns while creating a pathway for robots to support teams with physical tasks.”
Akara will build on its existing U.S. deployments in ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals by expanding its operations and engineering teams, accelerating adoption and advancing its AI agents across more healthcare applications. The funding marks a step toward its broader ambition: enabling hospitals to translate operational intelligence into automation that improves everyday care.
About Akara
Akara is a healthcare technology company spun out of Trinity College Dublin, founded by award-winning robotics and AI experts with a mission to help healthcare workers treat more patients. Its technology combines ambient sensing, AI and robotics to reduce administrative burdens, streamline workflows and increase clinical capacity. Akara’s thermal sensing technology was named one of TIME magazine’s Best Inventions of 2025. Founded in Ireland, the company has offices in Ireland, Los Angeles and the UK. Akara is supported by the European Innovation Council, the European Commission’s flagship initiative for breakthrough and deep-tech innovation, and is an alumnus of DigitalHealth.London, the Techstars Healthcare Accelerator, USC Viterbi Startup Garage and NYU’s Endless Frontier Labs.
For more information, visit akara.ai.
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