Well-known Estonian businessman Rain Lõhmus (pictured), Co-Founder of Hansapank and current Chairman of the Board of LHV Pank is entering into a new business. He already has paper archives in all three Baltic States. But Lõhmus is now going  digital as well – he is to be found in a new startup called Baltic Digital Archive (BDA).

BDA will focus on major corporate clients, offering them digital archiving software (that they can use independently), digital archiving as a service (with management and storing) and databases archiving.

It is interesting, when CEO of the new company, Kari Maripuu, talks about how banks, for example, currently archive their documents, loan agreements and everything. Yes, of course they have backups, but those are insufficient in long term. The banks can’t assure that sensitive information is stored securely for decades. This is where BDA wants help them.

Take a look at the video below (in Estonian), where Kari Maripuu explains the plans of BDA. 

Another startup in this critical area of storing information is Eesti Arhivaar, owned by entrepreneurs Valentin Ivanov (the Founder of Yaika.com) and Stanislav Tšerepanov.

Eesti Arhivaar targets smaller clients, mostly SME’s, but even private individuals. What happens if you have bought a TV and discovered one year later that it doesn’t work, but the invoice is lost? It means that you are in trouble and have to pay for the repair. Well, not if you are using Eesti Arhivaar’s software tool Arhivaar PRO, where you store all your documents, contracts and important invoices. It will help you keep your paper management under control and you don’t need a shoebox for storing invoices.

„It happens very often in companies that when the boss asks secretary for a document, she starts to panic, because the document can either be in sales department or on the accountant’s desk, stored in a strongbox or perhaps even laying on the bosses table somewhere,” Valentin Ivanov explains. „We can help to solve this mess!”

Ivanov has some interesting ideas for extra archiving functions in Arhivaar PRO. How about archiving an e-mail or a website in one click? Or how about giving any document a digital signature in only few clicks, after you have entered the program with your ID card?

The goal of Eesti Arhivaar is simple – to become the market leader of digital archiving in Estonia!

However, tough for both of the new enthusiastic startups – Baltic Digital Archive and Eesti Arhivaar – is the fact that they have to sell trust from day one, similarly to any insurance company. But it takes years to earn trust and respect.

Another thing perhaps haltering their business is the small market size - it goes especially for Eesti Arhivaar, focusing to Estonia.