Indore-based Pataa app wants to make finding addresses an easy task

Finding an address can often be a challenge in India. Most of us have experienced how delivery executives will often ask for a ‘WhatsApp location’ pin as they sometimes struggle to locate an address. And that’s exactly the problem that Pataa wants to solve for India. Started Mohit Jain and Rajat Jain in 2019, Indore-based Paata lets users specify their address to a particular 3×3 square on the map, along with voice directions on how to reach there.
“Right now, the first problem is that you have to fill up your address each time you use a different delivery service provider. The second problem is last-mile delivery. The delivery agents call asking where to come and you have to spend time explaining. Also 50 per cent of the people in the country live on unnamed streets, which sometimes makes it difficult for them to access mainstream finance options as well,” Rajat Jain said in an interview with
Once a user downloads the Pataa app and upload their address to it, they can then get a custom code with seven to eleven characters. This code is unique to their address. For example, if I were to create an address on Pataa, the code could be named “Sethu001”.

After creating this address, users can either share the Pataa address code with delivery agents if they already have the Pataa app installed, or share a Pataa link to the same. Clicking on the link will allow delivery agents to open up Google Maps directions to the exact location. When anyone searches for the Pataa address, the user who created it receives a notification alerting them as well. Users also have the option to change the address to a different location while keeping the same code.
The Pataa app claims to have divided the entire world into 3 metres x 3 metres squares, though right now services are limited to India. It then allows users to pinpoint the exact location and one can also add a near landmark. The app claims to have over 7 million downloads, with users having created over 1.5 million Pataa addresses. It has also partnered with the local municipal corporation in Indore and is working to make it the first “digital address city in India”.
The company is also working on B2B integrations with ecommerce and food delivery aggregator companies. These integrations will allow Pataa customers to sign into the respective services with their Pataa credentials. The already added address will then get shared with the delivery agents automatically as part of the integration. It also offers an extension to an address, a feature aimed at single locations where multiple users are looking to receive a package or get something delivered.
“Imagine there is a Tata office somewhere. The office itself could have a Pataa code of Tata001. The company can create this Pataa and then create extensions to it for each employee. These extensions are owned the organisation or person that created the initial Pataa: they can delete add or modify these extensions as they wish to,” Jain explained.
For now, Pataa has ambitions to be the “global language of addresses” and use the caret symbol (^) to denote an address created on their app Their hope is the caret symbol evolves as the universal one for addresses. But in order for that to happen, it will need widespread adoption from not just users and business, but also government organisations.