Toma's AI Voice Agents Are Transforming Car Dealerships—and Investors Are Taking Note
Looking for how AI voice agents are helping car dealerships? Wondering why venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) are pouring millions into AI startups? The answer lies in Toma, an AI voice technology company that’s rapidly reshaping customer engagement in the automotive sales industry. Designed to solve one of the most pressing dealership problems—missed phone calls—Toma’s conversational AI voice agents are improving lead response rates, boosting sales conversions, and reducing operational inefficiencies. This shift is drawing attention from major investors and high-performing car sales teams alike.
Founded in early 2024 by Monik Pamecha and Anthony Krivonos, Toma didn’t initially set out to revolutionize the car dealership industry. Their original focus was on heavily regulated sectors like banking and healthcare. But when dealership operators started reaching out directly, citing missed calls and overwhelmed staff, the co-founders saw an opening in a high-volume, high-intent, but under-automated vertical. Toma responded with a nationwide test—having its AI voice agents call dealerships across the U.S. The result? Only 45% of calls were answered, highlighting a massive gap in customer communication and lead management.
Determined to understand the day-to-day realities of auto sales teams, Pamecha and Krivonos went all in. They visited a dozen dealerships in the South—immersing themselves in the business, from test drives to greasy repair shop floors. This hands-on approach allowed them to tailor Toma’s AI voice platform to real-world dealership workflows, making the technology not just a tool, but a transformative sales asset.
This deep market immersion didn’t just earn them new customers—it earned them a loyal user base. Dealerships welcomed the Toma team into their communities, homes, and even barbecues. This grassroots trust-building proved invaluable, both in product development and in securing venture capital. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious VC firms, led Toma’s $17 million funding round, citing the founders’ customer-first commitment as a standout quality.
Seema Amble, the a16z partner who led the investment, emphasized that the most promising vertical AI startups are those embedded deeply with their target users. “They were effectively living at these dealerships, going to family barbecues, really understanding how they operate,” she said. That boots-on-the-ground mentality—paired with cutting-edge AI voice automation—is helping dealerships convert more leads, reduce labor costs, and drive revenue growth.
With the automotive industry increasingly leaning into AI for lead management, customer experience, and digital transformation, Toma is positioning itself at the intersection of innovation and high-value enterprise use cases. Keywords like “AI for sales,” “AI customer service,” and “lead conversion automation” are no longer buzzwords—they’re essential components of dealership profitability in a competitive market.
As digital transformation accelerates across auto retail, Toma’s AI voice agents offer a scalable, always-on solution to one of the most costly problems dealerships face: the lost opportunity of an unanswered phone call. And with more investors eyeing vertical SaaS solutions, Toma’s growth story is just getting started.
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