What Mind The Graph does

Mind The Graph is a cloud-based scientific design platform that enables researchers, academics, healthcare professionals, and students to create graphical abstracts, scientific figures, infographics, and posters without professional design skills. The platform combines a drag-and-drop editor with what the company describes as the world's largest library of scientifically accurate vector illustrations (75,000+ assets spanning 80+ scientific fields including cardiology, biology, chemistry, and genetics) and 300+ pre-made templates built by science designers. Founded in 2016 by Fabricio Pamplona and Leonardo Minozzo in response to the growing adoption of graphical abstracts in scientific publishing, the company positions itself as a lower-cost alternative to freelance scientific designers and an antidote to unreliable Google image searches for scientific content. The business operates a freemium SaaS model (Starter free tier plus paid Researcher and Teams & Labs subscription plans) complemented by a custom design services channel (US$200-US$1,000 per project) and an institutional licensing motion targeting universities, pharmaceutical companies, and biotech firms with custom-branded landing pages and domain authentication. In 2022, Mind The Graph was acquired by Cactus Communications and integrated into the Editage brand suite, gaining access to a broader science communication distribution and cross-sell ecosystem. As of the available data, the company claims 500,000+ registered users and adoption by 100+ academic institutions worldwide including Stanford, Harvard, UCLA, Mayo Clinic, and Abbott.

Name

Mind The Graph

Legal name

Cactus Communications

Website

https://mindthegraph.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Mind The Graph is a cloud-based SaaS platform that lets researchers and academics create graphical abstracts, scientific figures, and infographics using a drag-and-drop editor and a 75,000+ asset library of scientifically accurate illustrations, operating on a freemium plus institutional licensing model under Cactus Communications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scientific Communication Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Graphic Design Services (541430)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Content Asset Libraries & Template Marketplaces (stock, characters, themes) (EDAFAHAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Document Creation & Office Suites (BPAMAMAD)

Keywords

• Scientific infographics
• Research visualization
• Graphical abstracts
• Scientific illustrations
• Science communication

Headquarters

HQ city

Singapore

HQ country

Singapore

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription Plans (Freemium): Platform operates on a freemium model with a free Starter tier and paid subscription plans (Researcher, Teams & Labs). Free tier provides basic access while paid tiers offer advanced features, multiple simultaneous users, and team collaboration capabilities.
2. Subscription Recurring: Paid subscription tiers including Researcher plan for individual users and Teams & Labs plan for academic and industry teams (up to 11 users). Annual billing with the ability to cancel anytime.
3. Custom Design Services: Professional custom design services with fixed pricing tiers: Infographics (US$200), Cover Art (US$350), Presentation Design (US$600), and Premium Infographics for biotech/pharma (US$1000). One-time transaction-based pricing.
4. Institutional Licensing: Enterprise/institutional licensing for academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and biotech firms with custom landing pages, dedicated customer support, and bulk user pricing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Online cloud-based design platform that enables researchers to create graphical abstracts, scientific figures, infographics, and posters through a drag-and-drop editor backed by a library of 75,000+ scientifically accurate illustrations and 300+ pre-made templates across 80+ scientific fields. The company complements the self-serve platform with on-demand custom design services and institutional licensing for academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and biotech firms.

Product overview

Mind The Graph is a single unified online platform for scientific communication that combines a drag-and-drop design tool with a library of 75,000+ scientifically accurate illustrations and 300+ pre-made templates. The core platform enables researchers to create graphical abstracts, scientific figures, infographics, and posters. Additional offerings include Custom Design Services for on-demand professional designs, Institutional Solutions for enterprise customers with custom landing pages and team management features, and Teams & Labs subscription plans for academic and industry groups. The platform operates on a freemium model with Starter, Researcher, and Teams & Labs subscription tiers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mind The Graph Platform Cloud-based self-serve design platform for researchers, academics, and students to create professional scientific figures, graphical abstracts, infographics, and posters using a drag-and-drop interface, access to 75,000+ scientifically accurate illustrations, and 300+ pre-made templates.
• Custom Design Services On-demand custom illustration and design services for scientific journals, papers, books, press releases, conferences, lectures, and stakeholder meetings. Includes custom infographics (US$200), cover art (US$350), presentation design (US$600), and premium infographics for biotech/pharma (US$1,000) delivered as one-time engagements.
• Institutional Solutions Enterprise licensing and deployment offering for academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and biotech firms featuring custom landing pages with email/domain authentication, dedicated account management, team collaboration, bulk user pricing, and confidentiality controls.

Quantifiable outcome

• 120% growth in citations for articles with infographics
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Cactus CommunicationscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022In 2022, Mind the Graph became part of Cactus Communications, a science communication and technology company. Mind the Graph's online platform and technology is now available to researchers under the suite of solutions offered by Editage, CACTUS's flagship brand. This acquisition provides Mind the Graph with expanded resources and integration into a broader science communication ecosystem.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Figdraw: Figdraw is an emerging online scientific drawing and figure creation tool used by authors to produce publishable scientific figures. It targets the same graphical abstract and journal figure use cases but with a less developed template/illustration library compared to Mind the Graph.
• Piktochart: Piktochart is an infographic and data-visualization design platform targeting educators, communicators, and analysts. It competes on the broader infographic creation workflow with templates and a drag-and-drop editor, though with less science-specific depth than Mind the Graph.
• Visme: Visme is an all-in-one visual content platform for presentations, infographics, and data visualization used by educators, marketers, and knowledge workers. It overlaps with Mind the Graph on infographic/template-driven creation and team-plan pricing for organizations.
• Iconscout: Iconscout is a marketplace for icons, illustrations, and stock assets with subscription-based licensing used by designers and content teams. While not science-specific, it is comparable as an asset-library/template-marketplace business targeting creators and communications teams.

Broad incumbents

• Canva: Canva is a mass-market design platform with templates, an illustration library, and team collaboration features that overlap with Mind the Graph's drag-and-drop editor and Teams & Labs plan. It is broader and not specialized for science but is increasingly used by researchers and institutions as an alternative.
• Shutterstock / iStock (Getty Images): Shutterstock and iStock are large stock image and illustration libraries that researchers frequently use (alongside Google image search) as an alternative to purpose-built scientific tools. They represent the incumbent 'stock asset' alternative Mind the Graph positions itself against.

Direct peers

• BioRender: BioRender is the dominant dedicated scientific illustration platform used by researchers and institutions to create figures, graphical abstracts, and posters. It competes head-on with Mind the Graph on the same researcher persona, freemium-plus-team subscription model, and library-based differentiation, with broader scale and deeper institutional penetration.
• Smart Servier Medical Art (Servier): Smart Servier Medical Art is a free, well-established library of medical and biological illustrations widely used by researchers and clinicians. It competes with Mind the Graph on the asset library dimension and exerts pressure on paid pricing because of its zero-cost positioning.

Others

• Paperpal (Cactus Communications): Paperpal is an AI writing and manuscript-preparation assistant for researchers, also part of the Cactus Communications suite. It is an adjacent/ecosystem peer that Mind the Graph co-markets with via partner webinars and within the same researcher persona.
• Editage (Cactus Communications): Editage is Cactus Communications' flagship author-services brand (parent of Mind the Graph since 2022) offering editing, publication support, and AI tools to researchers. It is an ecosystem peer rather than a direct competitor but is the primary distribution channel via which Mind the Graph reaches enterprise and pharma buyers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/mindthegraph
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/MindtheGraph
• Facebookfacebook.com/mindthegraph
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mind-the-graph
• Instagraminstagram.com/mindthegraph

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mind The Graph