AVA

About AVA

AVA is a Saudi fintech company providing a payment platform and operating system for unattended and self-service retail. Its website says it was established in 2019, starting as a provider of cashless payment, IoT and management services for vending and similar machines.

The company describes a path with several pivots. In 2019 it built machines using 3D printing to sell disposable power banks, a project it shut down because of Covid-19 and touch-screen issues. In 2020 it built machines selling masks with QR payment, placed in government locations, and investors then advised it to focus on software. In 2021 it worked with international machine suppliers to bring its payment system to the Saudi market, and in 2022 it raised a pre-seed round and built a system it compares to Shopify and Salla for machines. By 2023 it reported working with more than 150 hotel brands in Saudi Arabia, covering Jeddah and Makkah, with Riyadh planned next.

Products include AVA SoftPOS, AVA QR, a payment gateway with 3DS and PCI DSS security, an e-invoicing system, pickup, Scan and Pay, e-commerce, SelfPay and hotel booking. Target segments cover vending, massage chairs, coffee machines, car wash, laundry, entertainment centres, hotels, beauty professionals, delivery, micro markets, transport, EV charging and parking. The site states about 2 million machines are connected to its system and that it serves 36 countries; these are company-reported figures. Its contact page lists an office at Code Lab. The startup is categorised as pre-Series A in logistics and technology, based in Riyadh. The pre-seed amount and investors are not disclosed in the available record.