Billion Hearts Software Technologies, founded by serial entrepreneur Mayank Bidawatka—best known as the co-founder of social platform Koo launched PicSee, which it describes as the world’s first AI-powered mutual photo-sharing app, the company announced on October 16.
The app introduces a unique “give to get” mechanism that enables users to automatically receive photos of themselves captured by friends—but only when they share their own in return. Once both users approve each other, the process becomes continuous and effortless, removing the need for manual uploads or photo requests.
“There are over 15 trillion photos in the world, with 2 trillion more clicked every year—yet most never get shared,” Bidawatka said. “PicSee fixes this with a patent-pending mutual sharing flow—you get your unseen pics from friends, and for them to get theirs, they share yours. PicSee uses AI-driven facial recognition to scan a user’s photo gallery, identify their friends, and generate personalized invites. Once both friends approve the connection, the app automatically shares the photos they’ve taken of each other.”
The app gives users a 24-hour review window to approve or withdraw any image before exchange, ensuring they retain full control over what gets shared. The app continues running in the background, identifying new photos and suggesting connections with friends recently photographed.
Unlike traditional platforms such as WhatsApp or Google Photos, PicSee eliminates manual uploads and album creation. The company calls it a “no-effort photo exchange”—powered by privacy-safe AI that removes the usual friction keeping personal photos locked in phone galleries.
PicSee designs its architecture with privacy as a core principle, which Bidawatka calls “non-negotiable” for any modern AI product. The app keeps all photos on users’ devices and encrypts them during transfer, preventing even PicSee employees from accessing or storing them. It also blocks screenshots, lets users recall shared images at any time, and enforces a 24-hour review window before sharing any photo.
“Everything stays encrypted and on-device, so even PicSee can’t see your photos,” Bidawatka said. “It’s simple, private, and built for global scale.”
According to the company, this model addresses the growing disconnect between the massive surge in smartphone photography and the hesitation to share personal photos. The company soft-launched PicSee in July 2025 and has since driven rapid growth through organic user referrals instead of paid marketing. Users now span 27 countries and over 160 cities, with adoption rising 75 times in just two months. Users have exchanged over 150,000 photos through the app so far.
The company further claims that 30% of users now have more photos of themselves on PicSee than in their own galleries, indicating that the mutual sharing mechanism is effectively recovering unseen photos stored on friends’ devices.
Bidawatka founded Billion Hearts Software Technologies in late 2024, shortly after Koo shut down when acquisition talks with several investors failed. Once viewed as India’s answer to X (formerly Twitter), Koo ceased operations after exhausting its funds and being unable to secure a strategic buyer.
Billion Hearts raised $4 million in seed funding from Blume Ventures, General Catalyst, Athera Venture Partners, and several angel investors behind major startups like Flipkart, Myntra, Ola, InMobi, and redBus. The startup operates with a compact 11-member team dedicated to building “privacy-safe, globally scalable consumer AI products.”
