Vending

Kadeya closed loop beverage vending system wins GS1 startup competition

Image: Adobe Stock.

June 8, 2023

Kadeya, a Chicago startup that provides a vending machine that serves water in a glass bottle, then allows the user to return the bottle to be sanitized and reused, won the $10,000 first-place grand prize in the fifth annual GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition, according to a press release.

The patent-pending bottling station washes, sanitizes, inspects and refills bottles, combining a bottling plant with a dishwasher and a soda fountain in a unit the size of a vending machine. The bottling station forward and reverse vends reusable, digitally identifiable bottles.

The GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition showcases emerging technologies that can improve supply chains to support more effective commerce. Each participating startup presented a new product launched since June 2020.

Entries were judged by a panel of technology experts. Finalists were evaluated on their solutions' innovation, performance, usability and potential societal impact, as well as their effective use of GS1 Standards.

GS1 US, a member of GS1 Global, is a not-for-profit information standards organization that facilitates industry collaboration to help improve supply chain visibility and efficiency through the use of GS1 Standards, a supply chain standards system.