Kadeya Wins GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition With Sustainable, Closed-Loop Beverage Vending System

Index Biosystems Awarded Second-Place Prize, and Fulfilld Takes Third-Place Honors

EWING, N.J., June 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GS1 US announces that Kadeya, a startup offering the first closed-loop beverage vending system, has won the $10,000 first-place grand prize in the fifth annual GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition. Additionally, Index Biosystems was honored with the $5,000 second-place prize, and Fulfilld was awarded the $3,000 third-place prize. The winners were revealed during a live ceremony at GS1 Connect, held June 5-7 in Denver, Colorado.

The GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition showcases emerging technologies that can significantly 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 from leading companies. Finalists were evaluated on their solutions' innovation, performance, usability and potential societal impact, as well as their effective use of GS1 Standards.

"Each of the companies that participated in the GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition are leveraging GS1 Standards to optimize their innovative technologies with digital data sharing that benefits all trading partners," said Melanie Nuce-Hilton, senior vice president, innovation & partnerships, GS1 US. "Kadeya was chosen for its ability to enable waste reduction, support a more circular, sustainable economy and drive supply chain efficiencies."

The winner of the competition, Kadeya, presented a sustainability breakthrough with its patent-pending kiosk that 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. Kadeya's smart bottling station forward and reverse vends reusable, digitally identifiable bottles.

Second-prize winner, Index Biosystems, created BioTags™ – microscopic barcodes made from baker's yeast that are applied directly to products, connecting them to their digital supply chain data and allowing for quick on-product verification and identification despite product aggregation, processing and transformation.

Third-place winner, Fulfilld, is a new generation of warehouse management software that optimizes warehousing operations by reducing wasted warehouse worker activity, improving inventory accuracy, optimizing product placement and improving warehouse worker productivity.

GS1 Connect provides a way for supply chain, e-commerce and technology professionals to stay up to date on industry trends, best practices and strategies for preparing for future business opportunities by leveraging GS1 Standards. To learn more about GS1 Connect, visit www.gs1connect.org.

About GS1 US  

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, the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. Nearly 300,000 businesses in 25 industries rely on GS1 US for trading partner collaboration that optimizes their supply chains and drives cost performance and revenue growth while also enabling regulatory compliance. They achieve these benefits through solutions based on GS1 Global's unique numbering and identification systems, barcodes, Electronic Product Code^® (EPC^®)-based RFID, data synchronization and electronic information exchange. GS1 US also manages the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code^® (UNSPSC^®).

SOURCE GS1 US