{Startup watch: Pataa} A mobile app solving the poor addressing system by providing every Indian with a digital address code

This startup has created a mobile app that aims to solve the poor addressing system with the goal of providing every Indian with a digital address code and aims to reduce the huge last-mile cost incurred by logistics, food hailing, and cab-hailing, among others.

As you repeat your address for the umpteenth time on the phone with the delivery guy, you almost decide to change your residence to an easier address. Long convoluted addresses often cause delays in life, and we just learn to live in a jumble of streets names and random numbers.

From the depths of this problem comes Pataa Navigations Pvt. Ltd., a startup creating a digital addressing app that creates a short code for an address and location. This mobile application decodes the confusing and outdated addressing system in India.

It aims to solve the poor addressing system with the goal of providing every Indian with a digital address code and aims to reduce the huge last-mile cost incurred by logistics, food hailing, and cab-hailing, among others.

The Tech Panda spoke to Rajat Jain, Co-founder of Pataa, about their quirky service.

Rajat Jain

50% users are using all Pataa features to their advantage which is a promising sign not only of the app usage but also that we’ve been able to achieve success in simplifying the addressing issues to a certain extent

“We have always looked towards solving real life issues faced by people, whether it’s the B2C, B2B or B2G segment. With the growth of e-commerce, explaining addresses to delivery personnel became a buyer’s pet peeve. Similar is the case with visitors,” he says.

In the B2B segment, Pataa is solving last mile issues of logistics and courier companies by providing them the exact location for parcel delivery.

“We’re providing addresses to people who live on unnamed streets and remote locations by giving them visibility for business, procuring loans etc. This eases the government in efficient governance. Providing all these solutions and simplifying India’s unstructured addressing system is what inspired us to start our company,” he says proudly.

“We identified this problem of unstructured and unnamed addresses in India during our travels. We realised that it was difficult to locate and share addresses. Apart from this, we observed that most people find it very frustrating when they have to explain an address over and over again to a visitor or delivery guy. Finding a global solution to this day-to-day problem, Mohit and I built a team of software engineers and intellectuals who have created this amazing app,” he adds.

What They Do

Pataa is built upon a secure AWS infrastructure with NodeJS based microservices and scalable architecture. It consumes many AWS services, but is not limited to EC2, VPC, Load balancing, Auto scaling, S3 Bucket, Polly, Cognito, ACM, Route53, and more. The mobile apps are built with native platforms of iOS and Android and developed in Swift and Java respectively.

Users can create a personalised or customised short code like ^SINGH221, ^KUMAR100 by entering the long address in the app just once, record voice directions in the user’s voice to a place from a close by landmark, add photos of their place, and create Pataa extensions, which can be shared by each family member or office colleague on the same address.

“With Pataa, you can say goodbye to all your address explaining and sharing woes forever,” Jain says proudly.

Some locations like campuses or gated communities might have special remarks for visitors, for e.g., basement parking, one way, etc.

“The Pataa app allows the user to add these special remarks so that the visitor has prior information,” he adds.

The app also provides a live visitor tracking system which enables tracking of food and courier deliveries easily in real time.

“The best part is that your personal short code remains the same even if your location changes, which means that you don’t need to explain your address again and again,” he says.

The Pataa USP

The major difference between Google and Pataa, says Jain, is that Pataa is an addressing app that provides a unique digital address code to the user.

“With our 3*3 square metre block-based system the users can drop a pin on their entrance for precise reach. Other Pataa features, like extensions etc., make Pataa very different from Google,” he explains.

The Pataa app is the only app that solves the problem of long and complex addresses, through data that is actually fed by the target audience/user himself

He further adds that most navigation apps use satellite data or data available from maps.

“The Pataa app is the only app that solves the problem of long and complex addresses, through data that is actually fed by the target audience/user himself, because no one else can describe the best route to their homes than the users themselves,” he says.

Another advantage over other apps is that the Pataa App is also available in Hindi and other major languages, which makes it accessible for people in rural areas.

Growth Story

The app has received an overwhelming response with 7 million-plus downloads since its launch in May 2021. It has secured seed funding of US$2.5 million from Dubai, US, and India based investors in November 2021. Pataa has also signed an MoU with ISRO for enabling access to ISRO’s Geospatial Services and APIs for the development of an addressing system.

We have always looked towards solving real life issues faced by people, whether it’s the B2C, B2B or B2G segment

The app has enjoyed 7.5 million downloads in a short span of time. The Pataa API has been successful in reducing the cart abandonment rate on ecommerce websites from 70% to 30% through the Pataa Address Autofill API, which is commendable.

“50% users are using all Pataa features to their advantage which is a promising sign not only of the app usage but also that we’ve been able to achieve success in simplifying the addressing issues to a certain extent,” says Jain.

On the B2B end, the startup is already collaborating with e-commerce and delivery companies to have Pataa in their check-out address field.

“Our Pataa Address Autofill API will also ease customers to get rid of repeated long form filling and will reduce cart abandonment rates,” he predicts.

The startup is planning to tie-up with logistic companies so that deliveries can be done easily to exact geotagged locations. Similarly, drone delivery and automotive integration are all in the pipeline.

Navanwita Bora Sachdev

Navanwita is the editor of The Tech Panda who also frequently publishes stories in news outlets such as The Indian Express, Entrepreneur India, and The Business Standard