Billion Hearts
Billion Hearts Software Technologies, founded in 2024 by former Koo co-founder Mayank Bidawatka, builds AI-powered digital consumer products for global markets. Its flagship product PicSee uses facial recognition to automate mutual photo sharing among friends, with privacy-first local storage and end-to-end encryption.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2024
- HeadquartersBangalore, India
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Billion Hearts does
Billion Hearts Software Technologies Private Limited is a Bangalore-based, privately held consumer technology company founded on August 29, 2024 by serial entrepreneur Mayank Bidawatka, the former co-founder of the now-defunct Indian social media platform Koo. The company's stated mission is to build simple, joyful digital consumer products for global markets, with the explicit ambition of creating Indian brands that are recognized and used internationally. Billion Hearts operates as a parent brand (represented by an elephant mascot named 'Happy') intended to incubate multiple product sub-brands over time.
The company's first product is PicSee, an AI-powered mobile photo-sharing application launched in October 2025. PicSee uses facial recognition technology to automatically identify friends in photos and exchange relevant images without manual requests, addressing the problem of users missing photos taken of them at events and gatherings. The app is differentiated by a privacy-first architecture: photos are stored locally on user devices rather than in the cloud, end-to-end encryption secures transfers, and screenshots are blocked. PicSee is distributed globally through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store under an open beta subscription model. Within three months of launch, the app grew from 25 to over 1,875 users across 27 countries, with primary adoption in India and secondary presence in the US, UK, Japan, Germany, and France.
Billion Hearts is funded by a $250,000 angel round (September 2024) from 13 investors including founders of redBus, Ola, Myntra, InMobi, and Flipkart, and a $4 million seed round (November 2024) led by Blume Ventures with participation from General Catalyst (represented by Neeraj Arora, ex-CBO of WhatsApp) and Athera Venture Partners. The company employs a small team of 11–50 individuals focused on engineering, product, and design, and follows a product-led growth motion targeting global smartphone consumers through app store distribution and organic social media channels.
Billion Hearts firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Billion Hearts
- Legal name
- Billion Hearts Software Technologies Private Limited
- Website
- https://billionhearts.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2024
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Billion Hearts Software Technologies, founded in 2024 by former Koo co-founder Mayank Bidawatka, builds AI-powered digital consumer products for global markets. Its flagship product PicSee uses facial recognition to automate mutual photo sharing among friends, with privacy-first local storage and end-to-end encryption.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Billion Hearts is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Bangalore
- HQ country
- India
- HQ region
- Asia
Markets served
Billion Hearts business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription-based App: The company is developing a consumer application with a beta subscription model. Specific pricing tiers and monetization details are not yet publicly disclosed.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
Billion Hearts product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Billion Hearts develops and operates PicSee, a consumer mobile application that uses AI-powered facial recognition to automate mutual photo sharing among friends. Photos are stored locally on devices rather than in the cloud, with end-to-end encryption for transfers and screenshot blocking to protect privacy. The app is offered via a beta subscription model and distributed globally through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Product overview
Billion Hearts Software Technologies is a digital consumer products company founded by serial entrepreneur Mayank Bidawatka on August 29, 2024. The company operates as a parent brand (represented by its elephant mascot named 'Happy') under which it develops multiple global digital products. Currently, the company's primary product is PicSee, an AI-powered photo sharing application that uses facial recognition technology to automate photo sharing among friends. PicSee is available on both iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play) platforms, positioning itself as a privacy-focused alternative to mainstream photo sharing services.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- PicSee: AI-powered photo sharing app that uses facial recognition to automate mutual photo sharing among friends, with privacy features such as no cloud storage and end-to-end encryption.
Products and services
- PicSee PicSee is an AI-powered photo sharing mobile application designed for individual smartphone users. It uses facial recognition to automatically identify friends in photos and exchange relevant photos among friend groups, eliminating the need for manual sharing. Photos are stored locally on the user's device with end-to-end encryption and screenshot prevention, positioning the app as a privacy-focused alternative to WhatsApp and Google Photos. It is available on iOS App Store and Google Play Store and is offered on a subscription basis.
Quantifiable outcome
- User growth from 25 to 1,875 users within three months of launch
Companies that use Billion Hearts
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Billion Hearts technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature3 records
Billion Hearts partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Billion Hearts competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
Direct peers
- BeReal: BeReal is a direct peer — a consumer mobile app that uses photo sharing between friends with anti-curation, time-window mechanics. BeReal's friend-group photo exchange overlaps with PicSee's mutual photo sharing use case, though BeReal emphasizes real-time over AI matching.
- Locket Widget: Locket is a direct peer — a mobile widget/app that lets friends send photos directly to each other's home screens. Both PicSee and Locket target the same 'see unseen photos from friends' use case with mutual-share mechanics and consumer mobile distribution.
- Snap Inc. Snapchat is a direct peer in private friend-to-friend photo sharing with disappearing content and AR/computer-vision features. While broader in scope, Snapchat's core photo-messaging mechanic overlaps directly with PicSee's mutual photo-sharing value proposition.
- Apple AirDrop: Apple AirDrop is a direct peer for local, peer-to-peer photo sharing with privacy-preserving local transfer. Both PicSee and AirDrop address the use case of moving photos between nearby devices without cloud intermediation.
Broad incumbents
- iCloud Photos: iCloud Photos (with Shared Library and Advanced Data Protection) is a broad incumbent for cross-device photo sync and sharing on Apple's ecosystem. PicSee's local-storage and E2E encryption position it as a privacy-first alternative for cross-platform smartphone users.
- Google Photos: Google Photos is a broad incumbent — the dominant cloud photo management and sharing platform with billions of users and advanced AI features. PicSee explicitly positions against Google Photos' privacy and sharing limitations.
- Telegram: Telegram is a broad incumbent in messaging with strong photo-sharing and privacy features (Secret Chats with E2E encryption). It competes with PicSee for the same 'private friend photo exchange' use case, especially for tech-savvy consumer segments.
- Instagram: Instagram is a broad incumbent in photo sharing and social discovery. While PicSee targets private friend-group sharing (versus public broadcast), Instagram's Direct messaging and Close Friends features overlap with PicSee's use case for event and group photos.
Emerging players
- Popsy: Popsy is an emerging player focused on automated photo curation and storytelling using AI/computer vision on user photo libraries. Both Popsy and PicSee leverage on-device AI to surface and organize photos that users would otherwise miss.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Billion Hearts social profiles
Digital presenceBillion Hearts financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Billion Hearts leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Billion Hearts funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors5 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Billion Hearts M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Billion Hearts
What does Billion Hearts do?
Billion Hearts develops and operates PicSee, a consumer mobile application that uses AI-powered facial recognition to automate mutual photo sharing among friends. Photos are stored locally on devices rather than in the cloud, with end-to-end encryption for transfers and screenshot blocking to protect privacy. The app is offered via a beta subscription model and distributed globally through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Is Billion Hearts a public or private company?
Billion Hearts is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Billion Hearts founded?
Billion Hearts was founded in 2024. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Billion Hearts based?
Billion Hearts is headquartered in Bangalore, India, in the Asia region.
How does Billion Hearts make money?
One revenue line is on record: subscription-based App.
Who are Billion Hearts's main competitors?
WhatsApp is listed as an others. Direct peers are BeReal, Locket Widget, Snap Inc. and Apple AirDrop. Broad incumbents are iCloud Photos, Google Photos, Telegram and Instagram. Popsy is listed as an emerging player.
Does Billion Hearts have an API?
No public API is recorded for Billion Hearts.