Knimbus

Founded in 2010 by friends Rahul Agarwalla and Tarun Arora, Knimbus operates as a cloud-based digital library platform from its headquarters in Gurugram, India. The founders identified a challenge for researchers in India who faced difficulties accessing global knowledge pools and collaborating with peers. Agarwalla brought over 15 years of experience in the information industry, having built a large digital content aggregator and co-founded a KPO, while Arora possessed a deep understanding of the Indian research market as the CEO of a content provider for academic and research institutes.

Knimbus provides a customizable, AI-powered digital library platform that integrates an institution's subscribed resources, open-access content, and library holdings into a unified, single-login system. The platform is designed for academic, government, and corporate institutions, serving a client base that includes prominent organizations like the IITs, NITs, CSIR Labs, and NITI Aayog. Its core function is to offer a federated search engine, allowing users to perform a real-time search across millions of scholarly articles, e-books, journals, and patents from a single interface. This approach aims to streamline the research process, saving time that would otherwise be spent searching multiple databases.

The business operates on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, generating revenue through annual subscriptions. It offers a freemium model, allowing individuals to start without payment, while the premium version provides institutions with customization options, broader content access, and library management tools. Key features of the platform include off-campus access, enabling users to connect to library resources from anywhere, and a mobile app for on-the-go availability. The system also incorporates social collaboration tools, allowing researchers to create shared projects, tag and comment on content, and build peer networks to foster knowledge sharing.

Keywords: digital library platform, eLibrary, research platform, federated search, scholarly content, academic resources, knowledge management, remote access library, SaaS, information discovery, research collaboration, open access, institutional repository, user analytics, e-books, e-journals, scientific research, library automation, content aggregation, academic technology