Vantaj
Cargo that takes its story with it
I built Vantaj to help humanitarian organisations like Convoy4Ukraine catalogue, track, and document medical aid travelling from the UK to Ukraine. A box with a QR code sticker tells anyone who scans it exactly what's inside, plus rough location history – without opening it, without an account, and without installing an app. Batches of records can be exported as manifests for border checks and recipient organisations.
The aim was to create an ultra-lightweight logistics layer that requires no authentication, no downloads, no infrastructure, and no set-up budget. Where other platforms rely on subscriptions, warehouses, and custom hardware, Vantaj is designed for fluid situations – a humanitarian organisation collecting aid, a convoy assembling in a car park, volunteers who've never used the system before, and boxes moving through multiple hands across international borders. Anyone with a smartphone can scan a code and log or view its contents. Generating and printing codes requires nothing more than a printer.
QR codes are a simple way to link a physical object to its record – but the record is what matters. A scan history showing a box moving from Cambridge to Warsaw to Kyiv is reassurance. A downloadable manifest that satisfies a border crossing is documentation. The ability to log complex aid data seamlessly, and allow recipients to check they've received everying quickly and easily, removes a huge source of friction and stress.
Every scan adds an approximate location to the record, derived from the device's IP address. No GPS, no location sharing. For aid convoys with multiple stages, this creates a simple chain of custody: logged in Cambridge, checked at the Polish border, handed over to partners in Kyiv, and finally delivered to recipients in Zaporizhzhia.
Vantaj also works for home storage, self-storage, and moving house. Or for more playful uses, like following this book as it's passed between strangers and travels the world.
Anyone can get started with the app for free. If you'd like to help test and improve Vantaj by using it for a humanitarian or business project, get in touch.
Open Vantaj →