Akara Raises $5.5M to Bring Privacy-Preserving AI to Hospitals
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GlobeNewswireAkara is working to bring physical AI to hospital operations, addressing critical labor and capacity bottlenecks
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akara, a healthcare technology company developing AI for hospital operations, today announced $5.5 million in funding, bringing its total funding to $12.3 million. Its sensors, AI agents and robotics help hospitals reduce administrative work, coordinate services and treat more patients.
Akara Founding Team (left to right): Conor McGinn, Cian Donovan, Niamh Donnelly, Michael Cullinan, Eamon Bourke
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 strategic angel investors.
With more than 40% of U.S. hospitals operating at a loss, providers face growing pressure to improve efficiency. Yet manual documentation and fragmented communication consume staff time, delay care and leave valuable clinical capacity unused.
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.
Akara's AI Sensor automatically captures how clinical spaces are used.
Existing solutions for capturing activity in clinical spaces typically rely on cameras, which can be costly to deploy and raise privacy concerns. Akara combines thermal sensing with edge AI to detect activity without capturing detailed visual images of patients or staff. Processing runs directly on each device, limiting sensitive data transmission and reducing infrastructure requirements, making deployment simpler and more affordable to scale. This creates a foundation for physical AI across everyday hospital operations.
Dr. Conor McGinn, co-founder and CEO of Akara, said: “Hospitals need to do more with existing staff and resources. We want to give teams time back through technology that protects privacy, is affordable and straightforward to deploy.”
The round includes participation from three healthcare specialist venture capital firms: VTC Ventures, Locke Health and CommonKind. VTC Ventures connects Akara to the Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic ecosystem, while Locke Health’s managing partners bring experience growing healthcare technology businesses at Cerner and Oracle Health.
James Ramey, Managing Director of VTC Ventures, said: “What excites us about Akara is the connection between understanding hospital activity and acting on it. Its technology makes that understanding more accessible and protects privacy, while creating a pathway for AI agents and robots to take on tasks that consume valuable staff time.”
Already deployed in U.S. ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals, Akara will use the funding to expand its operations and engineering teams, accelerate adoption and develop AI agents for more healthcare applications. Its ambition is to translate operational intelligence into automation that improves everyday care.
About Akara
Akara is a Trinity College Dublin spin-out founded by award-winning robotics and AI experts to help healthcare workers treat more patients. Its thermal sensing technology was named among TIME’s Best Inventions of 2025. Founded in Ireland, Akara has offices in Ireland, Los Angeles and the UK.
For more information, visit akara.ai.
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Ciara Crosbie | ciara.crosbie@akara.ai
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Akara Founding Team
Akara Founding Team (from left to right): Conor McGinn, Cian Donovan, Niamh Donnelly, Michael Cullinan, Eamonn Bourke
Akara AI Sensor
Akara's AI Sensor automatically captures how clinical spaces are used.
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