Bentonville AI startup opens headquarters

Triton Ventures, an artificial intelligence startup helping organizations manage people and AI agents as one team, recently opened its new headquarters at North ROC, an office and coworking campus developed by CrossMar Investments along Interstate 49 in Bentonville.

Entrepreneurs Bill Akins and Zak Morris co-founded AI company Triton Ventures in 2025, but its origins can be traced to a fall 2023 pitch competition at Bentonville High School where Akins judged a student project built by a team Morris coached, a prototype for what became Triton Emergent Academies. The partnership led to the founding of Triton Ventures, which comprises five divisions that work together to advance AI literacy, workforce readiness and applied research.

Triton Labs handles research and AI tooling. Triton Emergent Academies teaches AI to students and working professionals. Triton Studios produces creative and presentation work. Triton Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, focuses on AI education access. Triton Station is the company’s media and broadcast arm.

“We started Triton because somebody has to teach people how to actually manage a team that includes both humans and agents,” Akins said. “Now Bentonville gets to walk through the door and see what that looks like in practice.”

The office at 2500 N.E. 11th St. provides Triton Ventures with classroom space, a lounge and small flexible offices to accommodate growth. The company is working to support job growth in Northwest Arkansas and is building hiring pipelines with Bentonville Schools, including internships for students in the Ignite Professional Studies program and pathways for graduates seeking careers in AI work. The company expects to expand its headcount in Bentonville as its five divisions scale.

Akins said by the end of this year the company plans to have over 100 AI agents, 12 fractional executives, three to four interns, and a mix of college and high school students.

“Headcount isn’t the goal in year one,” he noted. “Scale is, and that means getting the agent infrastructure right before people come in on top of it.”

Akins said he and Morris want Triton to be the “fastest company under 50 employees in Arkansas history to reach a $100 million valuation.”