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Kaagaz Scanner: how this swadesi document scanning app became a huge success

Kaagaz Scanner
The founders of Kaagaz Scanner

A blessing in disguise

Ever since the Sino-Indian boundary was boiling with rage, India has been taking actions to show her bitterness towards the Chinese government. From June to September, India proclaimed the lists of various prohibited Chinese applications as a reaction to this border issue. These lists included many famous applications like PUBG, Cam Scanner etc. These had a massive system of users in the country. Since billions of Indian customers are utilising the limited applications, it can highly affect the economy of our nation. Then again, it clears the passage to a staggering open door for the startups in India. If they rapidly search for possibilities to displace these applications, it would mean huge success. One such startup that profited from the ban on Chinese applications is Kaagaz Scanner.

Kaagaz Scanner (1) is a product by Snehanshu Gandhi, Gaurav Shrishrimal, and Tamanjit Bindra which they launched on Google Play Store on June 15, 2020. It is one of the rare apps to become a colossal success weeks after the release date. The trio had begun Ordenado Labs, the parent company of Kaagaz Scanner in 2019. The application works like a competitive personal associate and aids in sorting out notifications, notes, updates, grouping essential files, and so forth.

Kaagaz Scanner
The logo of Kaagaz Scanner

The startup, Ordenado Labs, is incubated at NASSCOM 10,000 Startups Gurgaon and was an element of the Axilor Ventures Accelerator Winter 2019 cohort. The group at the startup composed Kaagaz Scanner as a side venture after the call of our Prime Minister for Vocal for Local and Atmanirbhar Bharat. Although the app was present in Google Play Store since June 15, the Chinese app ban triggered an excellent promotion for it. The team immediately started promoting the app through various social media platforms.

Planting the idea of Kaagaz Scanner

Snehanshu Gandhi, Gaurav Shrishrimal, and Tamanjit Bindra commenced Ordenado Labs in 2019. Snehanshu is a 2007 graduate from IIT-Bombay, and he completed his studies from ISB Hyderabad in 2012. Gaurav is an IIT-Kanpur former student, and Tamanjit is a graduate from the Army Institute of Technology Pune. They had been colleagues at home administration startup Tapp Me for a long time. While Snehanshu and Gaurav were the originators, Tamanjit was the Chief Technology Officer at Tapp Me. It was Snehanshu who started thinking of developing a Sorted AI.

He frequently wanted to correctly plan out everything but many efficiency gadgets that he used proceed to be useless for him. A health-related crisis caused him to understand how most people were ignorant about the importance of specific documents. He came to know that even his wife and close family members did not give much priority to the files of medical coverage and investments. Even if they realised the importance of arranging their files appropriately, they did not have the right resources. Quite soon, he began examining if he could utilise innovation to digitalise how people organised their documents. Therefore he thought of the possibility of a sorted AI that could be a powerful personal aid in classifying documents.

Sorted AI works like an intelligent helper and sorts out notices, notes, updates, individual grouping of archives and so forth. Snehanshu discussed this with Gaurav and Tamanjit, and in July 2019, they chose to manufacture a productivity application. With funding of 1.5 lakh rupees, they initiated the procedures to launch the app named Sorted AI. However, they soon understood that individuals were still not utilising the item due to the advanced features. Therefore, they modified it into Kaagaz Scanner, an app that could fit in the customer’s everyday lives.

Kaagaz Scanner’s sudden growth

The primary motivation for the startup was when the government of India acknowledged Kaagaz Scanner as a component of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Challenge. It gave the application an exceptional notice in the section of office applications classification. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for swadeshi products also encouraged Ordenado Labs to move on with Kaagaz Scanner. The biggest stroke of luck is undoubtedly the banning of Chinese apps which made the people search for an alternative for CamScanner. On the following two days after the boycott, Kaagaz Scanner was drifting into the second position in Productivity and number 11 generally on Google Play.

The founders of Ordenado Labs were able to witness wonderful advancement throughout July to September. The app went from just zero downloads to about 200,000 downloads in a matter of three days. Currently, Kaagaz Scanner has more than 1,000,000 downloads on Play Store, and they are seeing 10,000 new clients visiting the application consistently. According to the reports, people have scanned 10 million pages through Kaagaz Scanner over the last two months.

How does Kaagaz Scanner work?

Kaagaz Scanner is very straightforward and simple to utilise. All you need to do is download the app and begin operating it even without making an account. When you click on the plus sign which is present on the lower right corner, it lets you start by scanning any certificate. You can capture the scanned copies of any receipts, business cards and other documents with one tap. Keep the record on a level surface, snap a photo, modify the edges, pick the scan mode, and Kaagaz Scanner will prepare your file.

Aside from clicking a photograph of the archive, you can likewise include a file from your mobile storage. Similar modifications – edges, channel, crop and so on – are accessible in the case of device files too. You can even make a PDF with a blend of gallery docs, pictures and scanned documents altogether. One of the best parts about Kaagaz Scanner is the magic colour option, which lights up the copy and makes text bolder and more clear. The scanner permits three screening modes: colour scan, black and white, and grayscale.

The team behind Kaagaz Scanner is planning to compose a freemium monetisation model. This paid variant will have boundless capacity, additional security, AI motor, and much more highlights. It is the primary grade of monetisation, and with time, the organisation will take a gander at more roads. The company is sure that individuals will pay for this freemium model because of the benefits it offers.

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