My “make us smart” contribution for today is about a Munich-based company founded in 2010 that developed a cloud based archive where users can store all their paperwork.

You can either scan your documents or take a picture with your Smartphone and put them into your virtual folder in the cloud. The technology would actually label and sort the documents and store them for you. If you already receive your invoices per email or have some online access to your account, you can just forward it to a virtual mailbox that would then include those documents into your archive. It helps you keeping all your stuff in one central place.

Why is the archive actually smart?
The technology automatically reads out addresses and dates and more importantly reminds you of specific dates, e.g. when you have to cancel a subscription or a contract. Moreover, it reads out other data such as monthly spendings and gives you an overview of your total expenses.

As you can see on their website they are still in closed beta, slowly but surely adapting the product to the customer needs!
If you would like to participate in the beta, fell free to sign up on www.smarchive.com

Recently, they received a 100k € funding in crowdfunding. Within only 3 days they got 144 investors on board!

That’s why I actually want also to point out the concept of crowdfunding here. I think it is pretty interesting from the point of view that it gives you a lot of credibility and validation when you can get so many people to invest in you on an individual basis. Doesn’t that also confirm somehow that there are some people that are keen on getting the product out there?

Here are some crowdfunding opportunities for those of you who are interested: http://www.inc.com/magazine/201111/comparison-of-crowdfunding-websites.html
Also watch the TEDx Event with Victoria Westcott: Crowdfunding 101 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY5EfaF61hI

Feel free to comment on anything or raise questions on the product or the company!