Presto currently works with 12 restaurant brands. |Photo courtesy of Presto Phoenix
Drive-thru AI supplier Presto Phoenix raises $10 million to accelerate growth.
The funding was led by Metropolitan Capital, with contributions from Remus Capital, Link Ventures, and several strategic angel investors.
Metropolitan and Remus are part of the group Acquired Presto a year ago After Metropolitan foreclosed on the business. The group invested an additional $18 million in Presto at the time.
The San Mateo, California-based company hopes the additional funding will help it continue the momentum it has built since then. Presto's technology, which uses voice AI to take drive-thru orders, is currently used by 12 restaurant brands and in hundreds of locations, making Presto one of the largest suppliers of its kind in the industry. CEO Krishna Gupta said the company is clearly aiming to be number one this year.
“There’s a lot of noise in the market right now… but if you drill down into the layers and say, ‘Who’s actually doing live deployments across a lot of brands?’ You’re already kind of basically just us,” he said. “My goal is that by the end of the year, it will be clear to everyone in the industry and it won't be so noisy. I'm sure there will be a screening.”
Presto's current customers include Taco John's, Hardee's/Carl's Jr. and Fazoli's. Mr. Gupta said the company hopes to be in thousands of restaurants by the end of 2026. This new funding will help with that, and will also help Presto continue developing new products.
Last year, Presto integrated its menu management system, which the company says makes its technology more scalable. We've also improved our ability to capture data from transactions, and our partnership with AI voice company ElevenLabs has made our AI bots' voices more human-like. ElevenLab CEO Matti Staniszewski contributed to the latest funding.
Presto's order accuracy rate has also improved, although Mr. Gupta declined to provide specific numbers.
Drive-thru voice AI is one of the biggest technology trends in the restaurant industry in recent years. Many fast food chains, including big brands like Taco Bell and Wendy's, are pursuing this technology with the goal of reducing labor costs and increasing sales through automated upselling.
But the technology has also faced skepticism, with some wondering if it's really ready for prime time.
“I think that's true, but I think that in any industry there's a curve to where the technology and AI are ready,” said Gupta. “It starts with working with smaller brands and franchisees. Especially in AI, especially in an industry like this, there are so many different parts that have to work together so well that it's never going to be perfect, right?”
Presto's size and experience give it an advantage there, he said. And within just two to three years, he believes most restaurant chains will have fully implemented drive-thru AI.
“And not just fully deployed, these chains will be tuned to be AI-native,” he said. “And that's actually what I value most. If you don't walk this path today, you're going to fall behind the people who have walked this path, learned from it, and used it as a vehicle for their entire business.”
Our members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and enjoy exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all content. Sign up here.
