kea
Kea AI is a Mountain View-based voice and text AI platform purpose-built for U.S. restaurants, providing 24/7 phone ordering, POS-integrated order flow, and conversational SMS ordering for quick-service and fast-casual operators at a flat $450/month subscription.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersPalo Alto, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What kea does
Kea AI (legal entity: Kea Cloud, Inc.) is a Mountain View-based voice and conversational AI platform purpose-built for the restaurant industry. The company's core product is an AI phone-ordering system that answers inbound restaurant calls 24/7, takes orders with claimed 99.3% accuracy, handles complex modifier chains and customizations, processes payments (credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay), and routes orders directly into a restaurant's point-of-sale and kitchen display systems. Underlying technology consists of proprietary ASR, NLU, and TTS models trained on restaurant-specific menu, pronunciation, and order-flow data, deployed as a multi-agent architecture (The Judge for order validation, The Food Critic for 86 detection and substitution, The Data Guru for analytics). The platform integrates directly with 11+ POS systems (Toast, Square, Clover, Olo, NCR Aloha, Oracle MICROS, CBS Northstar) and reservation platforms (OpenTable, Resy), and was expanded in November 2025 to include a Text AI module for SMS-based ordering.
Kea AI monetizes via a flat monthly subscription: $450/month ($15/day) for the standard single-location plan with unlimited concurrent calls and all-inclusive features, with custom pricing available for chains with 20-50+ locations. The go-to-market is hybrid product-led growth and direct enterprise sales — operators can self-serve sign up and go live in under 30 minutes, while multi-location chains are supported through dedicated demo booking and brand-wide bulk configuration tooling. Customers are U.S.-based quick-service and fast-casual restaurants, with named logos including Via 313 (23+ locations), & Pizza, Curry Up Now, Hopdoddy, Houston Hot Chicken, and Pincho. As of the available data, the company serves 30+ restaurant brands and 1M+ guests, having handled 846,000+ AI phone calls and generated over $2M in tracked phone-order revenue for clients since January 2025. Kea has raised approximately $30M+ in venture funding across multiple rounds (2017-2025) from investors including Marbruck, Streamlined, Alumni Ventures, Deepcore, Heartland Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Xfund, and others, and operates with 11-50 employees.
kea firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- kea
- Legal name
- Kea Cloud, Inc.
- Website
- https://kea.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Kea AI is a Mountain View-based voice and text AI platform purpose-built for U.S. restaurants, providing 24/7 phone ordering, POS-integrated order flow, and conversational SMS ordering for quick-service and fast-casual operators at a flat $450/month subscription.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
kea industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Restaurant Voice AI / Restaurant Technology Software
- NAICS
- Telephone Call Centers (56142)
- SIC
- Services-Telephone Interconnect Systems (7385)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Contact Center Speech AI (agent assist, IVR automation) (HDAAAFAL)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration) (HDAAAFAC), AI Observability, Monitoring & Evaluation Platforms (Drift, Quality, Safety) (HDAEANAF)
Keywords
Where kea is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Palo Alto
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
kea business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription - Voice AI Platform: Kea AI charges a flat monthly subscription fee for its Voice AI platform for restaurants. The pricing is all-inclusive at $450/month (~$15/day), covering unlimited concurrent calls, dedicated Kea number, all POS integrations, AI reporting, 86 detection, payment processing, delivery handling, reservation/waitlist, dynamic FAQs, spam call handling, and customer support. No per-order costs or hidden fees. No additional charges for call volume.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Standard Restaurant Plan — $450/month ($15/day) |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
kea product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Kea AI provides a Voice AI and Text AI platform that automates restaurant phone ordering, 24/7 call answering, reservation and waitlist handling, payment processing, and customer FAQ management. The platform connects directly to restaurant POS systems (Toast, Square, Clover, Olo, and others) and pushes orders to kitchen display systems without human intervention. Sold as a flat-fee monthly subscription ($450/month per location) with unlimited concurrent calls and no per-order charges.
Product overview
Kea AI is a unified voice and text AI platform for restaurants, consisting of the core Voice AI Ordering system (marketed as a 'Cashier in the Cloud') plus multiple integrated modules and AI agents. The platform includes Voice AI for phone ordering (powered by ASR, NLU, and TTS technologies), Text AI for SMS ordering, an AI Menu Analyzer, 24/7 Call Answering, Dynamic FAQs, AI Call Reporting with The Data Guru agent, Delivery & Payments integration, and three autonomous AI agents (The Judge, The Food Critic, The Data Guru) that work together to handle restaurant calls without human intervention. The offering is managed through the Kea AI Portal for configuration and monitoring. The platform integrates directly with 11+ POS systems (Toast, Square, Clover, Olo, NCR Aloha, Oracle MICROS, CBS Northstar) and reservation platforms (OpenTable, Resy) for seamless order flow.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Kea AI Voice Ordering AI-powered voice assistant that answers restaurant phone calls 24/7, takes orders with 99.3% accuracy, handles modifiers and customizations, processes payments, and sends orders directly to POS and kitchen display systems. Functions as a 'Cashier in the Cloud' for restaurants of all sizes, with unlimited concurrent calls.
- Text AI SMS/text-based ordering channel that allows customers to place orders, ask questions, and pay via text message, complementing the voice AI phone ordering system for restaurants.
- 60+ Premium Voices Premium AI voice library offering restaurants 60+ voice options to customize the Voice AI assistant's personality and tone to match their brand identity.
Quantifiable outcome
- 99.3% order accuracy — exceeding typical human accuracy during peak hours (estimated at 80-85%)
- +10 more outcomes
Companies that use kea
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles2 records
kea technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration9 records
AI capability7 records
Feature10 records
kea partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered strategic and core.
- StreamstrategicStream, an order and menu management solution provider for restaurants, announced a strategic partnership with Kea AI to integrate AI-powered voice ordering capabilities into Stream's platform. The partnership enables Stream to offer AI voice agents for drive-thru ordering, phone-based customer service, and real-time call answering to its restaurant clients. Stream positions itself as a bridge between POS brands and AI ordering solutions.
- OlocoreKea AI is partnered with Olo, described as a 'leader in the restaurant technology space.' Olo provides restaurant ordering and payment infrastructure, and the partnership enables Kea AI to integrate with Olo's platform for seamless order flow and POS connectivity for restaurant clients.
- CBS NorthstarcoreKea AI is partnered with CBS Northstar, described as a leader in the restaurant technology space, for POS integration and order management capabilities.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
kea competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ConverseNow: Conversational AI for restaurant phone and drive-thru ordering. Competes head-to-head in QSR/pizza with similar ASR/NLU-based ordering accuracy claims and POS integration depth.
- Presto (Presto Voice): Automated voice AI for drive-thru and phone ordering at major QSR chains. Overlaps directly with Kea's voice-ordering product for fast-food and fast-casual customers.
- OpenCity: AI phone ordering agent for restaurants with direct POS integrations. Competes for the same mid-market and chain restaurant phone-ordering workload.
- Synq3 Restaurant Solutions: AI-driven restaurant phone and drive-thru ordering with POS integrations to Toast, Olo, and others. Direct competitor in the restaurant vertical voice AI space.
- PolyAI: Enterprise conversational voice AI deployed across restaurants, hotels, and retail. Comparable in technology stack and enterprise phone-handling use cases, though broader than restaurants.
- Hi Auto: Voice AI focused on QSR drive-thru ordering. Direct competitor for the same voice-ordering workload with similar POS integration requirements.
- SoundHound for Restaurants: Voice AI platform purpose-built for restaurant phone ordering and drive-thru, with POS integrations. Closest direct competitor given vertical focus, voice-first ordering, and similar enterprise restaurant customer base.
Broad incumbents
- Toast: Dominant restaurant POS platform and existing Kea integration partner. A broad incumbent whose move into native voice AI would directly threaten Kea's distribution and pricing.
- Square for Restaurants (Block): POS platform for restaurants and one of Kea's listed integrations. Broad incumbent with the data and reach to launch a competing voice-ordering product.
Others
- Olo: Restaurant ordering and payments platform and current Kea partner. Adjacent ecosystem participant that could choose to bundle or compete with Kea's voice layer over time.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
kea social profiles
Digital presencekea financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
kea leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
kea funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors9 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
kea M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about kea
What does kea do?
Kea AI provides a Voice AI and Text AI platform that automates restaurant phone ordering, 24/7 call answering, reservation and waitlist handling, payment processing, and customer FAQ management. The platform connects directly to restaurant POS systems (Toast, Square, Clover, Olo, and others) and pushes orders to kitchen display systems without human intervention. Sold as a flat-fee monthly subscription ($450/month per location) with unlimited concurrent calls and no per-order charges.
Is kea a public or private company?
kea is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was kea founded?
kea was founded in 2018. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is kea based?
kea is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States, in the North America region.
How does kea make money?
One revenue line is on record: subscription - Voice AI Platform.
Who are kea's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ConverseNow, Presto (Presto Voice), OpenCity, Synq3 Restaurant Solutions, PolyAI, Hi Auto and SoundHound for Restaurants. Broad incumbents are Toast and Square for Restaurants (Block). Olo is listed as an others.
Does kea have an API?
No public API is recorded for kea.
What industry is kea in?
kea's product category is Restaurant Voice AI / Restaurant Technology Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAFAL, Contact Center Speech AI (agent assist, IVR automation), with a secondary code of HDAAAFAC, Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration). Its NAICS code is 56142 and its SIC code is 7385.