Kiva Sales & Service and Petalfast Complete California Distribution Merger

Kiva Sales & Service and Petalfast announced on August 25, 2026 that they have completed their merger, finalizing a strategic combination first announced March 18, 2026. The deal closed August 17, 2026, uniting two established cannabis sales and distribution operations under a single platform serving California, with expansion into New York and New Jersey planned.

Petalfast Co-Founder Arun Kurichety now serves as CEO of the combined organization. KSS Co-Founder Scott Palmer will chair the combined board while staying on as CEO of Kiva Confections, the edibles maker whose 2010 launch preceded KSS’s founding. The combined organization will operate under a united name to be announced later in 2026.

“We built this combination around one idea: a cannabis brand should never have to choose between scale and control,” Palmer said in the announcement. “Full-service sales, self-directed distribution, retail relationships, digital ordering, logistics, remittance: brands now find every piece of a go-to-market strategy under one roof.”

The merger preserves both companies’ sales teams, existing partner relationships, and customer service standards, according to the announcement. KSS Live, the digital ordering marketplace KSS built, continues to support both of the platform’s service tiers, giving self-managed brands buyer visibility and full-service partners a technology layer over field sales.

Kurichety said the platform has added accounts since the deal was signed. “Brands are already voting with their business,” he said. “Since we signed our letter of intent, eight new brands have joined our platform.”

The combined roster spans what the company describes as one of the deepest brand portfolios in cannabis, covering full service, agency sales, and logistics-only support. KSS’s side includes Kiva, CLSICS, Gelato, Level, Pax, Uncle Arnie’s, CANN, and Emerald Sky. Petalfast brings Smokiez, Sundae, Happy Fruit, Cure Company, and Jungle Boys, among others.

From Letter of Intent to Closed Deal

The path to the August 17 close ran through two transactions. On December 17, 2025, Petalfast signed a letter of intent to combine with Sunderstorm’s California distribution and logistics assets, a deal that marked Petalfast’s entry into California distribution and carried exclusive long-term rights to distribute Sunderstorm’s KANHA edibles line through Northern and Southern California hubs. Petalfast was then led by CEO Jason Vegotsky, who discussed the company’s retail-engagement model in a 2022 MyCannabis interview.

Three months later, on March 18, 2026, KSS announced its own letter of intent to combine with Petalfast. That announcement named Kurichety as acting CEO of the combined organization following completion and said Palmer would lead a combined board evaluating long-term leadership needs. It also outlined a long-term structure of two dedicated selling divisions organized by product category.

The completed merger confirms the leadership arrangement sketched in March, with Kurichety now holding the CEO title outright rather than on an acting basis.

The Combined Platform by the Numbers

• Eight new brands have joined the platform since the letter of intent was signed, according to the August 25 announcement
• 30-plus brands in the KSS portfolio, reaching more than 1,000 California dispensaries, per the company’s KSS Live marketplace site
• 3,000-plus vetted products available through the ordering platform
• 99.9 percent on-time delivery, a company-reported figure
• 60 percent buyer adoption rate on KSS Live, as stated in the March announcement

How the Two Distribution Tiers Work

The combined platform sells two distinct levels of service. KSS Lite, a streamlined distribution tier launched ahead of the merger’s completion, is built for brands that run their own sales teams. It functions as a third-party logistics arrangement: the platform handles warehousing, compliance tracking, and statewide delivery, and the brand gets direct access to the KSS and Petalfast retail network and logistics infrastructure without paying for a full-service sales model. Orders placed by a 2:30 PM cutoff ship the next business day, and a dedicated team manages tracking through California’s state-mandated METRC system on every unit and transfer.

The Full Partnership models remain for brands that want the field operation: dedicated sales representatives working retail accounts, active outreach and new placements, sell-through analytics, and collections and remittance handled on the brand’s behalf. KSS Live sits underneath both tiers, so a self-managed brand on the Lite tier still gets buyer visibility through the same marketplace full-service partners use.

What Happens Next for the Combined Company

The company’s near-term milestones are set out in the announcement. The united name for the combined organization will be announced later in 2026. Beyond California, the company plans expansion into New York and New Jersey, two markets the March announcement identified as targets while the letter of intent was still pending. For New York, Petalfast had separately been building a presence, announcing an expansion of its sales and marketing platform into the state before the KSS combination.

Palmer’s dual role also defines the post-merger map: he chairs the combined distribution board while continuing to run Kiva Confections, keeping the edibles brand and the distribution platform under connected but distinct leadership as the combined company starts selling into additional states.