PicSee, a new AI-powered mutual photo-sharing app, is the latest venture from Koo co-founder Mayank Bidawatka and his team at Billion Hearts Software Technologies. Launched on Android and iOS, PicSee aims to revolutionize how individuals recover and exchange personal photos lost in friends’ devices—removing awkward requests or tedious manual sharing. The app leverages advanced face recognition to automate and secure the experience, while its privacy-first architecture is designed to address concerns that have long plagued digital photo sharing.
How PicSee Works: “Give to Get” Mutual Sharing
Unlike conventional one-way photo-sharing services, it uses a unique, patent-pending “give to get” system:
- The app scans your camera roll using AI to identify friends whose faces appear in your photos.
- You invite these friends to mutually connect. After a one-time approval, both parties can share and recover photos of one another—forever, without future manual effort.
- Before sending, users get a 24-hour review window to approve or recall outgoing photos, offering a safety net for privacy-conscious users.
- The more you share, the more you receive: friends can only download images you have of them after they reciprocate.
Privacy, Safety, and Core Features
It is built as a privacy-first alternative to cloud-based photo storage and social sharing apps:
- On-device storage: Photos are never uploaded to a server—the exchange happens device-to-device via end-to-end encryption.
- No screenshots: Screenshots of photos are blocked by default.
- Sensitive content filter: AI-powered filtering automatically excludes nudes and sensitive content from any gallery scans.
- Full user control: 24-hour approval period + recall function lets users review, cancel, or wipe sent images from a recipient’s device at any time.
- Face recognition-based invites: Only those with mutual consent can get access, further boosting privacy.
Traction from Soft Launch
Following a soft launch, PicSee has seen substantial organic growth:
- 7,500% user growth driven entirely through invites and referrals.
- Users in 27 countries and 160 cities.
- Over 1,50,000 photos exchanged so far.
- 30% of users have claimed to recover more photos of themselves through PicSee than in their own galleries!
Funding and Product Roadmap
PicSee is the flagship launch of Billion Hearts Software Technologies, set up by Bidawatka after Koo’s shutdown in 2024. The company was seeded with:
- $250,000 in pre-seed funds from prominent founders (redBus, Ola, InMobi, Myntra).
- $4 million seed round in late 2024, led by Blume Ventures with participation from General Catalyst and Athera Venture Partners.
- Funding has been directed toward scaling the tech team, expanding global infrastructure, and building AI-first features.
PicSee plans to roll out AI-driven editing tools, enhanced storage options, and richer social sharing features in upcoming releases.
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Market Potential and Founders’ Vision
With over 15 trillion photos and 2 trillion new ones added every year by some 4.8 billion smartphone users, PicSee is targeting an enormous untapped market. Bidawatka’s previous success with Koo, as well as deep investor trust post-Koo’s exit, places PicSee at the forefront of consumer utility and privacy-driven innovation in India’s and the world’s photo-sharing landscape.
Summary:
PicSee stands out as an AI-powered, privacy-centric mutual photo-sharing app, solving the long-standing pain point of unrecovered, unshared photos from friends and family. With robust funding, rapid growth, and a clear utility-focused roadmap, Mayank Bidawatka’s new venture aims to reshape how intimate digital memories are shared—securely, effortlessly, and with user consent at its core
