About 8Kava
We build stores for the hours when nothing else is open.
About 8Kava in one line: we build AI-powered smart vending and micro-retail, meaning the Kava OS software and the connected hardware that let a business run an unattended store with very little overhead. Product, hardware lab and Network Operations Center work under one roof in Fort Collins, Colorado.
- connected retail points under management
- 3,400+connected retail points under management
- operators and location hosts on Kava OS
- 190+operators and location hosts on Kava OS
- transactions in the trailing 12 months
- 11.8Mtransactions in the trailing 12 months
Hunger doesn't keep business hours
Food at work, at school and at home still depends on whether someone is standing behind a counter. Cafeterias close at 7 p.m. Night nurses, third-shift pickers, students and residents keep going. For decades, vending filled that gap with a spiral, a coin slot and a route driver guessing what had sold.
8Kava exists to make unattended retail worth trusting. That means checkout that charges the right item, real food held at a safe temperature, and software that tells an operator what each device needs before anyone starts the truck. Our tagline is the whole brief: retail that runs itself.
We sell software, Kava OS, as the core of what we do. We build hardware to put that software in more places, and we offer services for hosts who want an outcome rather than equipment.
Six rules we hold ourselves to
Open by default
Kava OS works with existing MDB machines and readers, takes your own payment processor at no markup, and exports your data. A customer who can leave is a customer we have to keep earning.
Honest numbers
Platform figures are aggregated across real deployments over the trailing 12 months, and case studies state their own window. 99.4% checkout accuracy is audited against restock counts, not estimated.
Privacy at the source
Recognition runs on the device and looks at products, not people. No images of faces are stored or sent. Analytics are anonymous and aggregated.
Built to be repaired
Camera, lock and compute boards are modular. A failed part is a swap, not a scrapped cabinet, and VaaS hardware is refurbished and redeployed at end of term.
Respect the route
We design for the people who restock at 5 a.m. If a feature doesn't save a driver a step, a stop or a phone call, it waits.
Name the trade-off
Some sites are wrong for a smart cooler. Some machines should be replaced, not retrofitted. We'd rather lose a deal than install a bad fit.
We wear things out on purpose.
Hardware engineers, machine-learning engineers, operations researchers, payments specialists and field technicians work in the same Fort Collins building. That matters more than it sounds. When a door hinge, a recognition model and a route plan are designed within earshot of each other, the trade-offs get settled at a workbench instead of in a support ticket.
New hardware spends its early life in the lab being opened, closed, warmed, chilled, disconnected and restocked badly on purpose, until the weak parts show themselves. The parts that fail become the next design.
- Recognition fuses vision with per-shelf weight at ±2 g, so look-alike items don't become disputes.
- Every device is built to keep selling through 72 hours offline.
- Designed to UL-listed component standards, with R290 natural refrigerant in all refrigerated units.
How an idea becomes a feature
- Hallway
Start where the problem is
We watch restocks, read service tickets and ride routes. Most features start as a complaint from someone holding a crate.
- Lab
Break it before you do
Prototypes face warm rooms, dropped connections, look-alike products and doors held open too long.
- Suggest
Earn trust before autonomy
New Kava Agent behaviors begin as suggestions a person approves. Auto comes later, and only inside guardrails the operator sets.
- Fleet
Measure in the open
Platform metrics are aggregated across deployments over the trailing 12 months. Case studies name their own window, such as the first 6 months.
A lab and a NOC that never close either
Our Network Operations Center watches the connected fleet 24/7/365 from the same building as the lab. When a compressor trends warm or a door is held open, the alert reaches people who can read the telemetry and, if needed, call the engineer who designed the part.
In the field, 8Kava technicians serve the Colorado Front Range with same-day on-site response. Elsewhere in the continental US, vetted, 8Kava-trained field partners provide next-business-day service in served metros.
- 4-hour remote response target for critical device-down issues.
- 99.9% Kava OS uptime SLA, and 99.95% on Enterprise.
Night shift used to eat from a bag of chips at 3 a.m. Now they eat a real meal, and I get an audit-ready temperature log without anyone touching a clipboard.
Software at the core, hardware to reach further
Kava OS
One open platform for telemetry, forecasting, pricing, payments, maintenance and Kava Agent.
Connected hardware
Coolers, vending, kiosks, lockers, PPE dispensers, outdoor units, walk-in micro-stores and a $349 retrofit kit.
Services
Site scoring, installation, managed operations and zero-capex Vending-as-a-Service.
Who in your organization eats last?
Every building has people who arrive after the food goes away: the night nurse, the third-shift picker, the student in the library at 1 a.m., the resident who gets home after the corner store closes. They're rarely the ones choosing the amenities. If you asked them what's missing, what would they say?
About the company
Where is 8Kava based?
Our headquarters, hardware lab and Network Operations Center are at 2821 Remington Street, Suite 101, Fort Collins, Colorado. We deploy across the continental United States.
Is 8Kava a software company or a hardware company?
Both, in that order. Kava OS is the core recurring product, and it runs on MDB-compliant machines we didn't build. Our own hardware exists to put the software in places a legacy machine can't reach, like fresh-food coolers, lockers and walk-in micro-stores.
Who works at 8Kava?
Hardware engineers, machine-learning engineers, operations researchers, payments specialists and field technicians, all working from Fort Collins. If that mix sounds like your kind of team, see careers.
Do you run machines yourselves?
When a host wants us to, yes. Managed Operations covers stocking, merchandising, cleaning, service and reporting. Operators who run their own routes use the same Kava OS, with no one in the middle.
How do I reach you for press or partnerships?
Email hi@8kava.com. It's read by people who can answer, and it's also the right address for field service companies that want to work with us.
Where to go next
Come see the lab, or bring us your hardest site.
Tell us about the place where food runs out first. We'll show you what we'd build there, and what we wouldn't.