Billion Hearts Software Technologies, founded by Mayank Bidawatka, has launched PicSee, an AI-powered mutual photo sharing app. The app introduces a ‘Give to Get’ feature, allowing users to exchange photos automatically with friends after a one-time approval.
Since its private soft launch in July, PicSee has expanded to 27 countries and over 160 cities. The app has grown 75 times in two months through user invitations, and over 150,000 photos have already been exchanged. Around 30% of users now have more photos of themselves on PicSee than in their own camera galleries, as per reports.
PicSee uses AI to identify friends and the photos they have taken, sending personalised invitations to share images. Photos remain encrypted and stored on the user’s device, ensuring privacy and security. Users can review photos for 24 hours before sharing and can retract images anytime.
The app’s privacy-first architecture ensures no photos are stored on PicSee servers, screenshots are disabled, and all exchanges remain encrypted.
In July 2024, Koo, the social media platform co-founded by Bidawatka, ceased operations. The shutdown followed unsuccessful acquisition talks with Dailyhunt, a prominent content aggregator. Despite securing over $60 million in funding from investors like Tiger Global and Accel, Koo faced challenges in expanding its user base and generating revenue. The founders cited a prolonged funding winter and high operational costs as key reasons for the closure
Mayank Bidawatka, Founder of PicSee, said, “There are over 15 trillion photos in the world, with 2 trillion more clicked every year, yet most never get shared. People simply don’t have an incentive to share, so these memories remain buried in friends’ phones. PicSee fixes this beautifully with its patent-pending mutual sharing flow, you get your unseen pics from friends, and for them to get theirs, they share yours. It’s the world’s first photo sharing app built on a fair mutual exchange.”
“PicSee is one of those few real-world consumer AI products built for billions. Everyone’s a photographer, but everyone’s also missing thousands of photos taken by friends. Photos are proof of the moments we lived and loved, and PicSee helps bring them back, effortlessly,” he added.
