Loman AI, an emerging player in restaurant technology founded by Christian Wiens, Anita Liu, and Jansen Derr, has raised $3.5 million in Seed funding to revolutionize how restaurants handle customer interactions. The round was backed by TenOneTen Ventures and Next Coast Ventures, two prominent U.S.-based firms known for supporting high-growth technology startups.

The raise marks a pivotal step in the company’s mission to eliminate missed calls and improve customer engagement through advanced voice AI.

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The Problem: Missed Calls and Lost Revenue for Restaurants

Every restaurant owner knows this problem all too well  - the ringing phone that no one can answer. Whether during a lunch rush or dinner peak, calls pile up while staff are busy serving guests, managing deliveries, or prepping food. Each unanswered call represents a potential lost order, a frustrated customer, or a missed catering opportunity.

Research shows the scale of the issue: many restaurants miss around 40-43% of incoming calls during peak hours.  One study estimates that a typical mid-sized restaurant can lose $287,000 annually due solely to missed calls. Another analysis observed that average losses from unanswered calls can be around $27,000 per year even for quick-service outlets. 

It’s not that restaurants don’t care  - it’s that they’re stretched thin. The phone has always been both a vital revenue channel and a chronic pain point. And unlike online orders or walk-ins, there’s no scalable system for handling phone traffic  - until now.

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The Solution: AI Phone Agents Built for Restaurants

Loman AI developed an AI-driven phone agent that can handle customer interactions like a real employee  - except it’s available 24/7, never misses a call, and never gets overwhelmed.

The AI is trained specifically for restaurant scenarios: it can take orders, answer menu questions, check delivery availability, process reservations, and even integrate with point-of-sale systems to sync orders in real time. Using natural-language processing (NLP), it understands conversational nuance  - from “Can I get extra cheese on half?” to “Is your gluten-free crust available today?”

The genius here isn’t just the technology, but how focused the product is. Loman AI didn’t try to be the AI for every business. They built it only for restaurants  - and that decision quietly unlocks something most founders overlook.

While many AI startups aim to serve broad industries, chasing scalability too soon, Loman AI went deep instead of wide. By committing to one vertical, they trained their system on highly specific language patterns, customer intents, and workflows that general-purpose assistants like Alexa or ChatGPT simply don’t understand. That hyper-focus creates compounding advantages: faster training loops, tighter integrations, shorter sales cycles, and a moat built on proprietary restaurant data.

It’s a subtle but massive insight  - success in vertical AI doesn’t come from building the smartest model, but from embedding intelligence inside a single high-value workflow and executing with near-obsessive precision. Loman AI isn’t just automating calls; they’re building infrastructure for a predictable, scalable customer experience  - something restaurants have never truly had.

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Research & Industry Outlook: Why the Timing Is Right

To understand why Loman AI’s timing is so compelling, it helps to look at the broader industry trends:

• The global restaurant digitization market was valued at about US$6.9 billion in 2022, and is projected to reach around US$23.4 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of ~16.5% between 2023-2030.
  
• The broader global restaurant technology market (including POS, online ordering, analytics, voice) was estimated at roughly US$5.93 billion in 2025 and projected to expand to about US$27 billion by 2035, with ~16.4% CAGR from 2026-2035 according to one report.
  
• In voice-AI specifically: voice bots for restaurants are forecast to jump from US$10 billion to approximately US$49 billion by 2029 (CAGR ~37.8%).
  
• Adoption metrics: about 34% of restaurants had already implemented voice AI technology by 2025, with another 48% planning deployment within the next 12 months.
  
• Consumer sentiment: A recent survey revealed 77% of regular diners believe the majority of their restaurant orders will be handled by an automated voice assistant in just a few years. 

These figures illustrate the convergence of three major forces: labor scarcity in hospitality, rising consumer expectations for rapid service, and the expansion of AI-capable infrastructure. For a company like Loman AI, this creates a perfect storm of opportunity: a massive addressable market, strong pain points, and early signs of adoption momentum.

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Why This Funding Round Matters (With Data in Mind)

The $3.5 million Seed round gives Loman AI the runway to scale in a market that is not just growing, but accelerating. With adoption rates of voice AI at ~34% and the remaining 48% of restaurants planning to deploy such tech, the pace of expansion is meaningful. Combined with ROI benchmarks  - voice AI systems delivering up to 760% ROI and booking lifts averaging ~35% in early deployments.

In other words, Loman AI isn’t just entering a growing market  - they’re entering a market where adoption is maturing and ROI is quantifiable. Investors and founders who spot that inflection are the ones who win.

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The Team Behind the Vision

Behind the technology is a founding team that blends technical excellence with operational empathy. Christian Wiens, Anita Liu and Jansen Derr bring deep experience in artificial intelligence, product design, and SaaS infrastructure. But what sets them apart is their understanding of restaurant reality  - they’ve built a product that doesn’t ask restaurant owners to change behavior, only to plug into something that finally works.

Their leadership style reflects a growing movement among next-generation founders: prioritize focus, not flash. In a world obsessed with rapid scaling and multi-market reach, Loman AI is proof that deep domain mastery and customer obsession can be more valuable than wide distribution.

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The Bigger Picture: AI and the Future of Hospitality

Loman AI’s story is part of a much larger shift in the food service industry. Restaurants are becoming more digitized, more data-driven, and increasingly reliant on automation to maintain quality while controlling costs.

AI systems are now managing inventory, personalizing menu recommendations, optimizing delivery logistics  - and voice automation is emerging as the connective tissue that ties it all together. Market analysts predict the restaurant technology ecosystem will exceed the tens of billions in value within the next decade. With voice AI adoption rates in the one-third range (and climbing) and revenue-recovery opportunities in the hundreds of thousands per unit, the business case has never been clearer.

For many operators, Loman AI represents not just an automation tool but a lifeline  - a way to keep up with demand without compromising service quality.

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What’s Next for Loman AI

With fresh capital, the company plans to strengthen its AI models, enhance language understanding, and add support for multiple languages and accents  - crucial for serving diverse restaurant markets. They’re also expanding integrations with popular POS systems and delivery platforms, ensuring a seamless flow from phone call to order fulfillment.

In addition, Loman AI aims to introduce analytics dashboards that help restaurant owners visualize missed-call recovery rates, customer intent trends, and real-time call performance  - data that was previously invisible but can now drive operational improvements.