--- title: "Toma took $17 million from a16z to answer dealer calls; its dealer product is now a 'legacy login'" description: "Toma raised $17 million from Andreessen Horowitz to answer car-dealership phones. Its website now sells a job board where professionals do consumer tasks with AI agents, and rival Flai just banked $27 million in dealership AI." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Applications" published: 2026-10-28T16:30:14.158Z modified: 2026-10-28T16:30:14.158Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/toma-took-17-million-from-a16z-to-answer-dealer-calls-its-dealer-product-is-now-a-legacy-login language: en keywords: "Voice AI, Pivots, Venture Capital, Startups, Automotive" --- # Toma took $17 million from a16z to answer dealer calls; its dealer product is now a 'legacy login' > Toma raised $17 million from Andreessen Horowitz to answer car-dealership phones. Its website now sells a job board where professionals do consumer tasks with AI agents, and rival Flai just banked $27 million in dealership AI. ## The dealership product is now a 'legacy' login [Toma](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/toma)'s homepage has no cars on it. It [sells "The Job Board for Agents," a beta marketplace](https://www.toma.com/), version 0.65.16, where consumers post tasks: negotiating a car's out-the-door price, immigration paperwork, therapy [1]. Vetted professionals bid, put AI agents on the routine work, then "review and sign off" on the result. The site invites users in through ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or [Meta](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/meta)'s Muse, and still says "Backed by Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz." The dealership business that made its name is one footer link now: "Legacy (Automotive) Login." [1] ## The archive shows a three-week vanishing act That footer was the whole company in June 2025, when [TechCrunch reported Toma had raised $17 million](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/05/tomas-ai-voice-agents-have-taken-off-at-car-dealerships-and-attracted-funding-from-a16z/) in a round led by Seema Amble of Andreessen Horowitz, the venture firm known as [a16z](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/a16z) [2][3]. Founders Monik Pamecha and Anthony Krivonos, who started Toma at Y Combinator in January 2024, cold-called the country's dealerships, found only 45% of calls answered, and put voice agents into more than 100 stores. [2][3] Automotive work was still shipping this year: [Toma IQ, launched March 19, 2026](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toma-iq-turns-your-best-employees-judgment-into-ai-guardrails-302718681.html), turns manager-approved call handling into guardrails for each dealer's agents. [4] Then the record stops. Internet Archive captures show the dealership pitch intact on July 12 and September 9, 2026, and [a bare "Applied Research" placeholder by September 30](https://web.archive.org/web/20260930175035/https://www.toma.com/), with nothing captured since. [5][6][7] Searches this week find no announcement and no coverage of the switch. ## Flai banks $27 million in the vacated category On October 6, 2026, six days after that placeholder was captured, Flai [announced a $27 million Series A led by Base10 Partners](https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/tech-companies/flai-s-ai-dealership-software-is-booking-50-000-appointments-per-month/ar-AA2dFWYb), with Toyota's venture arm and the dealer investors Friedkin Group and Findlay Automotive aboard [8]. Flai chief executive Ari Polakof says revenue grew 20-fold in a year, and his agents book about 50,000 appointments a month across more than 10 of the top 50 US dealer groups. [8] A year earlier Flai was a $4.5 million seed bet, one of what [TechCrunch called a "swarm" of startups](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/03/flai-is-the-latest-startup-bringing-ai-to-car-dealerships/) chasing the same phones. [9] Toma sold car dealers an AI that answered the phone; it now sells consumers a human to check the AI's work. *Chart: **The biggest check in dealership AI now belongs to the challenger** Bar chart of announced venture rounds in dealership AI: Toma $17M (June 2025), Flai $4.5M seed (October 2025), Flai $27M Series A (October 2026).* *Announced venture rounds in AI phone software for US car dealerships. Toma's $17M is total raised to date at its a16z-led round; Flai figures as reported by TechCrunch. Sources: TechCrunch, June 5, 2025, and October 3, 2025; TechCrunch via MSN, October 6, 2026; Internet Archive capture, September 30, 2026. [2][7][8][9]* ## No explanation yet, so watch three numbers Nothing public says dealers have lost their AI; "legacy" can mean maintained rather than buried, and neither Toma nor a16z has explained the change. Three readings will call the turn: the job board's version number crawling out of beta, any word on whether the hundred-plus dealership customers stay served, and whether Flai's 20-fold growth holds on fresh capital. ## Takeaway The a16z-backed dealership AI startup Toma quietly turned its dealer product into a legacy login and now sells a beta agent job board, and rival Flai just banked $27 million to own the category. ## Sources 1. [Toma (company website), "Toma | The Job Board for Agents," live homepage, 28 October 2026](https://www.toma.com/) 2. [TechCrunch, Sean O'Kane, "Toma's AI voice agents have taken off at car dealerships and attracted funding from a16z," 5 June 2025](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/05/tomas-ai-voice-agents-have-taken-off-at-car-dealerships-and-attracted-funding-from-a16z/) 3. [DailySynapse, "Toma's AI voice agents gain traction at car dealerships, secure a16z funding," 3 October 2025](https://dailysynapse.com/news/tomas-artificial-intelligence-voice-agents-gain-traction-car-dealerships-a16z-funding/) 4. [PR Newswire (Toma), "Toma IQ Turns Your Best Employees' Judgment into AI Guardrails," 19 March 2026](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toma-iq-turns-your-best-employees-judgment-into-ai-guardrails-302718681.html) 5. [Internet Archive Wayback Machine, toma.com capture, 12 July 2026](https://web.archive.org/web/20260712121628/https://www.toma.com/) 6. [Internet Archive Wayback Machine, toma.com capture, 9 September 2026](https://web.archive.org/web/20260909142144/https://www.toma.com/) 7. [Internet Archive Wayback Machine, toma.com capture, 30 September 2026](https://web.archive.org/web/20260930175035/https://www.toma.com/) 8. [TechCrunch via MSN, Sean O'Kane, "Flai's AI dealership software is booking 50,000 appointments per month," 6 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/tech-companies/flai-s-ai-dealership-software-is-booking-50-000-appointments-per-month/ar-AA2dFWYb) 9. [TechCrunch, Sean O'Kane, "Flai is the latest startup bringing AI to car dealerships," 3 October 2025](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/03/flai-is-the-latest-startup-bringing-ai-to-car-dealerships/) --- Toma took $17 million from a16z to answer dealer calls; its dealer product is now a 'legacy login' — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/toma-took-17-million-from-a16z-to-answer-dealer-calls-its-dealer-product-is-now-a-legacy-login