Insider Brief
- Magic, creator of the agentic CRM platform Loyalist, raised $10 million in seed funding led by Lerer Hippeau with participation from Bling Capital, Floodgate, Major Food Group, and VCR Group to expand AI personalization in the service industry.
- Loyalist unifies restaurant systems like reservations, POS, and social media into a single CRM, enabling personalized guest experiences and powering over $2 billion in annual guest spend across hundreds of top restaurants.
- The funding will support team expansion and development of AI-driven products across hospitality, retail, real estate, and wellness to bring real-world personalization and intelligence to everyday experiences.
PRESS RELEASE — Magic, a company building AI for real-world experiences, is announcing $10 million in seed funding led by venture capital firm Lerer Hippeau, with participation from Bling Capital, Floodgate, and industry strategics Major Food Group and VCR Group, Gary Vaynerchuk and David Rodolitz’s hospitality group.
Magic is emerging from stealth after building Loyalist, an agentic CRM platform used by hundreds of restaurants including Major Food Group, Momofuku, Le Bernardin, COTE, and Daniel Boulud’s The Dinex Group.
While AI has supercharged productivity for people who work behind screens like engineers, lawyers, and analysts, it has largely left behind the largest employer sector in the world — the service industry.
Magic is changing that.
“Every aspect of our digital lives has been personalized by AI from how we shop to consume content, but when you walk into a restaurant, hotel, a retail store, the experiences still feel generic,” said Maggie Tang, Founder and CEO of Magic. “The next chapter of AI will happen beyond the chat window — in the real world.”
Magic’s first product, Loyalist, streamlines a restaurant’s existing tech stack: reservations, point-of-sale systems, private event platforms, and social media into a single real-time CRM for marketing, review management, reporting, and more. The platform also surfaces actionable insights that help operators deliver personalized moments at scale like knowing a guest’s favorite booth, remembering they love chocolate cake, or sending them a targeted invite to a wine dinner that matches their preferences.
“One of the things that makes our restaurants special is our deeply personal relationships with our top regulars and friends. Loyalist allows us to scale that personal relationship with every guest who dines with us,” says Mario Carbone, chef and co-founder of Major Food Group, the luxury hospitality brand behind CARBONE, Torrisi Bar & Restaurant, Sadelle’s, ZZ’s Club and more.
“Loyalist is building technology that actually understands the human side of our industry, helping operators connect, anticipate, and engage in ways that feel personal at scale,” says David Rodolitz, co-owner and CEO of VCR Group.
Loyalist already powers tens of millions of guest interactions annually across hundreds of restaurants, representing over $2 billion in guest spend, with revenue growing more than 10x in the past year. The company plans to use the new funding to expand its team and build additional AI-powered products across hospitality verticals, including hotels, retail, real estate, wellness, and more.
“Hospitality experiences are supposed to feel magical — marked by great service, energy, special offerings — but anyone who’s worked in the industry knows how hard it is to make magic every day,” says Ben Lerer, Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau. “Maggie’s been working in restaurant operations since she was a teenager, and brings a rare combination of product depth and hospitality intuition and taste. Now, she’s using AI to take the friction out of the work so the human side can shine. The tech is finally ready to make that promise real for one of the world’s biggest (and most analog) industries.”
“The more digital our lives become, the more we crave authentic human connection,” said Tang. “Magic is about giving people superpowers to create experiences that make people feel like they truly belong.”
About Magic
Magic builds AI that brings personalization and intelligence to real-world experiences. Its flagship product, Loyalist, helps restaurant hospitality operators understand and delight every guest through data-driven insights. Magic is based in New York City and backed by investors including Lerer Hippeau, Bling Capital, and Floodgate. Learn more at magic.company and loyalist.com
About Lerer Hippeau
Lerer Hippeau is an early-stage venture capital firm founded and operated in New York City. Since 2010, we have invested in entrepreneurs with great ideas who aren’t afraid to do hard things. Our portfolio includes more than 400 leading enterprise and consumer businesses including Guideline, Mirror, Blockdaemon, K Health, Palmetto, ZenBusiness, Zipline, Prose, and Warby Parker. We’re experienced operators who invest early and stay in our founders’ corners as they build iconic companies. Learn more at lererhippeau.com.
About Bling Capital
Bling Capital is an early stage venture fund founded in 2018 by Ben Ling, a former product executive at Google, Facebook, and YouTube. Since inception, Bling Capital has backed over 100 companies that have collectively raised over $3B. Bling Capital offers a unique Product Council of 100+ top executives as resources to its portfolio companies. We are honored to have been featured by TechCrunch as “The VCs that Founders Love the Most” and Ben Ling was recognized on the Forbes Midas Seed List (#4 in 2023, #5 in 2024).
Media Contacts:
Magic
press@magic.company
Major Food Group
Lauren Gnazzo
lauren@majorfood.com
