The average automotive service desk is a high-stakes, low-margin operation where every dropped call is a lost repair order. 11Sight, a Berkeley-based AI startup founded in 2016, is building a wedge into this exact problem. Its product is a conversational AI agent that answers the phone, qualifies the customer, and books a service appointment, all within the first 90 seconds of the call [11Sight website, 2025].
For a general manager, the pitch is pragmatic. The company's own calculator projects a 73.8% call handling rate, meaning the AI would manage nearly three-quarters of inbound volume without human intervention [11Sight website, 2025]. The remaining calls are transferred to the team.
A Wedge Into the Dealership Back Office
11Sight's focus is deliberately narrow. While the company's broader tagline mentions a "conversational sales and marketing platform," its primary messaging is squarely aimed at automotive service departments [11Sight website, 2025]. By starting with a defined use case, 11Sight can tailor its language model, integrations, and sales motion to the unique workflows and compliance needs of dealerships.
The company claims its AI agents are already handling 76% of calls for some deployments [11Sight annual-dealership-report, 2026]. If these figures hold at scale, the labor cost savings and incremental revenue from captured after-hours calls become the core of the ROI story.
The Founders' Patent Play
Leading the company are co-founders Aleks Gollu (CEO) and Farokh Eskafi (CTO). Gollu holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and was previously founder and CTO of PINC Solutions, a supply chain software company acquired by Kaleris in 2020 [ContactOut, 2026]. Eskafi also holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley [Equilar ExecAtlas, 2026]. The team's public differentiation point is its intellectual property. 11Sight holds three U.S. patents with a fourth pending, and a 2021 patent application lists Eskafi and others as inventors on systems related to conversational AI [Dealroom, 2026] [USPTO.report, 2026].
The Funding and Traction Picture
11Sight's disclosed funding history shows a total of $5.15 million raised across several rounds, with a significant $5 million round noted in August 2022 [Tracxn, 2026].
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Mar 2017 | 0.148 M USD |
| Aug 2022 | 5.0 M USD |
| Total Disclosed | 5.15 M USD |
Public traction metrics are limited. The company states it serves both SME and large corporate customers but does not name them [11Sight Atlassian Confluence, 2026].
Where the Concept Meets the Road
- Integration depth. Success depends on smooth integration with core dealership systems for scheduling, customer records, and parts inventory.
- Voice AI reliability. Automotive service involves specific terminology, vehicle makes and models, and nuanced customer complaints.
- The human handoff. The 24% of calls the AI doesn't handle are likely the most complex and valuable.
The Realistic Competitive Set
- Internal BDC/Service Advisors. The primary alternative is the status quo: hiring more people to answer phones.
- Legacy Call Center Tech. Older interactive voice response (IVR) systems and basic call routing software are the entrenched incumbents.
- Emerging AI Competitors. Startups like Stella Automotive and Mia are also targeting the auto retail space with AI-powered customer engagement tools [Crunchbase, 2026].
The ICP is unambiguous: the financial decision-maker at a mid-to-large automotive dealership group. For 11Sight, the next twelve months will be about moving from projected metrics to published ones. The key milestone to watch is the announcement of a named, multi-location dealership group as a customer.