Dutch startup Vox AI raises €7.5 million to transform drive-thrus with autonomous voice AI
Amsterdam-based Vox AI, a conversational voice AI platform purpose-built for drive-thru and operations automations in quick service restaurants (QSRs), today announced it has raised €7.5 million in Seed funding.
The round was led by global venture capital firm Headline, with additional participation from True, Simon Capital, and returning investor Souschef Ventures. The funding brings Vox AI’s total raised to €8.6 million and will accelerate its global expansion, including the launch of a new office in San Francisco.
“Vox AI is pushing voice technology far beyond generic Natural Language Processing. We’re not just improving voice technology. We’re building a new industry standard for how guests interact with fast-food chains and QSR brands they love and how restaurant staff run them,” said Vox AI Co-founder and CEO Maurice Kroon. “Our goal is to make voice the de facto interface for every QSR location – without the need to upgrade their current hardware.”
Founded in 2023, Vox AI is focused on the €863 billion global QSR market, where operators face growing challenges, including labour shortages, high turnover, increasing wage pressures and operational complexity.
The Vox AI platform serves as a multilingual voice assistant for quick-service restaurants (QSRs), enabling customers to place drive-thru and mobile orders autonomously, while supporting staff with real-time shift guidance and alerts triggered by restaurant systems.
Vox AI’s core product offerings and platform features include:
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Truly Autonomous AI: Produces voice AI that reportedly replicates natural human speech and service from day one, with no human-in-the-loop during training or deployment – enabling scalable, consistent performance across multiple locations.
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Drive-Thru Voice AI Ordering: Handles orders 24/7 in over 90 languages and dialects, ensuring fast-food and QSR patrons can order in their preferred language and style.
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Real-World Intelligence: Voice AI that continuously self-optimises, learning from dialects, menu synonyms, ambient noise, and unique, location-specific building acoustics with a conversation-first training pipeline.
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Seamless Tech Stack Integration: Designed to plug into existing QSR tech stacks without operational disruption.
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Mobile Voice Ordering Integration: Enables voice-based pre-ordering through QSRs’ mobile apps to reduce or eliminate wait times and streamline pick-up orders.
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Employee Assist: A hands-free, voice-first operational tool that supports staff with real-time inventory alerts and shift guidance, for example.
According to the company, the first deployments demonstrate that Vox AI’s technology increases ROI by up to 17 times, shortens drive-thru queues, enhances upselling, drives higher customer satisfaction, and frees up restaurant employees to focus on more meaningful tasks.
“Vox AI delivers something the QSR space has never had before: autonomous, intelligent, real-time voice interaction at a global scale. It’s not a feature – it’s a platform shift,” said Dominic Wilhelm, Partner at Headline. “We are thrilled to partner with the Vox AI team to power the future of drive-thru and QSR ordering to not only improve companies’ bottom lines, but also reduce employee turnover and improve customer satisfaction.“
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