The Estonian startup CAV Solution received funding from investors and plans to enter the US market

CAV Solution, a startup that graduated from the Narva incubation programme of the Tehnopol Science and Business Park, received 125,000 euros at the start of the year from angel investors at Pipedrive Angels and Garage Entertainment OÜ. This gave the investors 5% of the equity of the company, which is planning to expand its activities to the USA.

The startup was founded little over a year ago, and has grown rapidly since the beginning. The Swedish venture capital investor Curitas Ventures bought into CAV Solution last summer with the world’s first NFT-capital investment, which was the first such transaction ever seen anywhere.

Innovation: the simple process of control

CAV Solution specialises in age verification services for clients. The startup has developed an add-on module for age verification that is designed for various vending machines around the world. The module helps make vending machines more competitive against traditional retailers who are able to use on-site staff to verify the age of consumers. The module is not only for use with vending machines, but can also be used for on-the-spot KYC (know your client) identification.

The process is simple: the client goes up to the vending machine and puts their document into the reader, and the camera checks the photograph in the document against the face in front of it.

“The system uses artificial intelligence to compare the photograph in the document with the real person standing in front of the camera, and verifies the authenticity and the expiry date of the document and whether the client is of the right age to buy the product they want”, explained Dmitri Pimenov, development manager at CAV Solution.

Future plans: increasing production capacity

“Everything about our solution is simple, clear and exactly what users of vending machines need, as everything needs to simplify the purchasing process and make it more convenient”, explained Dmitri, adding that negotiations are currently ongoing with producers of vending machines about how to integrate the CAV Solution equipment during manufacture in factories.

“Producers are aware that we are a startup and that our solutions will develop further and the identification verification tools will change and improve, and they like that very much as it gives them flexibility as well”, he noted.

CAV Solution said that there are some very big names among those negotiating for sales and cooperation, but the startup is not rushing to publicise those names in the middle of the negotiations.

“We only need a contract with one of the giants to be able to build a factory for our process. The plan is to scale up production capacity, and of course we need a factory to do that”, explained Dmitri.

As may be guessed, the startup is developing fast. The team recently moved into larger premises, as their old offices were becoming too small.

“We were earlier working as a real garage startup in an office of 30 m², where there was not enough air or space” laughs Dmitri. “To encourage investment we moved into larger offices where we can have separate space for the laboratory and a comfortable place for working and for meeting potential partners”.

People from CAV Solution are working hard to promote their startup abroad as well, attending various trade fairs, including the Self-Service Innovation Summit in Miami last year, where they presented their ideas to potential clients and purchasers, leading to several offers from various firms.

The team plans to go again to fairs and conferences in the USA, as the culture of buying from vending machines is highly developed there and so there are many businesses that would be interested in their products. The plan is to go to Chicago in the near future for example.

“The market in the USA is really big and so there are many opportunities for us to develop and move forward there”, say the CAV Solution team.

What about Europe?

Although CAV Solution has taken its first successful steps into the US market, it is also ready to negotiate about its home market. The Estonian market is of course very small, and so they are looking at the whole of the Baltic region and the whole of Europe.

“We would really like to launch pilot projects, and we are now in negotiations in the Baltic states with a potential client from Daugavpils, who wants to order our verification equipment and install it in hotels. And of course we plan to enter the market for self-service checkouts, though that will not be in the near future as we are only a startup after all, and it takes time for our technology to become known. The biggest money is currently to be made from the US market, but we are in absolutely no way closing our doors to Europe or to other countries. We are open to working with partners and if anybody is interested in using our solutions, we are ready to develop our products together with them, and we are happy to consider different options for signing partnership agreements”, said Dmitri Pimenov.

Tehnopol is proud of the success it has nurtured

Programme Manager at the Narva Hub of the Tehnopol Startup Incubator Olga Kurdovskaja is very pleased with the success of the team. “As programme manager I am very pleased and proud. The mission of the Tehnopol Startup Incubator is to direct and support the development of startups from the initial idea to the creation of finished products and the first outside investment. The success of CAV solution shows that our strategy of expanding into Ida-Virumaa and especially into Narva is the right one. The idea of going to Ida-Virumaa to give systemic support for startup companies was quite bold and ambitious, like all of our mission is. Seeing our first little hatchlings grow up into very promising start-ups and succeed in global markets, as they surely will, makes it clear that it is time to take things even further”, she said.

“All those who are working like CAV solution used to, developing their product from the solution they have come up with in the garage or in a spare room, should take the leap and join the Tehnopol Startup Incubator! Action is the key, there is no point in just sitting on a great idea and wasting valuable time. Whether you take such decisive steps will define how interesting and fulfilling your life can become, showing whether you are ready to invest in your innovative idea, whether you have no fear of difficulties, and whether you are ready to head for success. Our team of professional mentors is ready to support you even if the road looks hard and full of obstacles. Just do it!”