Arc raises $10.76M seed led by a16z to put AI voice in the drive-thru
Ex-Block founders Michael MacLennan and Ali Hussain are rolling out an AI order-taking agent for quick-service drive-thrus; investor Olivia Moore says accuracy up 5-10%.
By Ryan Merket · Published
Why it matters
Drive-thru labor and accuracy are persistent pain points for quick-service operators. If Arc can reliably lift ticket size and reduce error rates without degrading guest experience, it unlocks margin in a massive, frequency-driven channel.
Michael MacLennan and Ali Hussain have raised a $10.76 million seed round for Arc, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Olivia Moore (@omooretweets) wrote in a thread on X. Arc, a quick-service drive-thru voice AI company, is live with customers, per Moore.
https://x.com/omooretweets/status/2059298041073680543
The founders, Michael MacLennan (@maclennanm) and Ali Hussain (@alihussaincs), previously shipped products for the real world at Block, according to Moore. Their pitch: bring quick-service restaurants into the AI era by automating the drive-thru order-taking flow without removing human workers from the guest experience.
Citing industry context, Moore wrote that 40% of Americans use a drive-thru each week and that drive-thru channels account for roughly half of all restaurant sales. She added that many locations still run on dated tech while operating at 2026 volumes, with tight margins and high employee turnover. Moore referenced QSR magazine (@QSRmagazine)'s 2025 Drive-Thru Report for the underlying graphics in her thread.
On performance, Moore said Arc is delivering 5-10% higher order accuracy and higher average order values, noting that an AI agent can consistently upsell at speed. She framed the product as a revenue and service enabler, not a headcount reduction: freeing employees to focus on hospitality while the agent handles order intake.