BOOKWORMS OF THE WORLD, UNITE

A startup turns bookshelves into digital identities to help readers find each other. A conversation with entrepreneur Meera Raman.

- S KEERTHIVAS

Na digital age obsessed with filters and fleeting trends, a new social app is betting on something quieter — the books we read. Meera Raman, former chief strategy officer at Merkle India, has launched BoiPoka, a mobile platform that uses AI to turn physical bookshelves into digital identities and in the process, connect readers who share intellectual chemistry.

The platform’s name comes from the Bengali phrase for “bookworm,” and the idea began with a milestone. Raman says she found herself at 50 wanting to build something more meaningful than the scroll-and-like universe she saw dominating. “Since I have always loved books, I wanted to build a product that sits at the helm of technology and community,” she says. She teamed up with Tanay Kumar, co-founder of Fractal Ink, to turn the idea into a product that respects reading culture. Their solution: let the bookshelf become the profile.

Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and AI, the app allows users to photograph an entire bookshelf at once and within seconds, the system recognises titles, organises them into a personal library and suggests reading connections. No manual entry.