Koo cofounder Mayank Bidawatka has decided to shut down PicSee, his AI-enabled mutual photo-sharing startup, after the platform failed to achieve the scale required for sustained growth.
PicSee, which operated under Billion Hearts Software Technologies, was launched in October 2025. The startup used AI photo finder and face recognition technology to help users access photos of themselves from their friends’ phones. It followed a photo barter model, where a user’s friends could receive their photos from the user only when they shared photos of the user stored on their own devices.
According to Bidawatka, PicSee’s core challenge was not user engagement but distribution. While the app saw strong early retention when groups of friends joined the platform, its expansion was limited by the need to onboard entire friend circles instead of individual users.
“Retention wasn’t the issue. Users who joined with their friends stayed engaged. The real challenge was acquiring entire friend networks. Despite experimenting with different growth strategies, we couldn’t make that scale,” he said.
PicSee was still in the pre-revenue stage when the decision was taken to wind up operations. Bidawatka said the startup had a defined monetisation roadmap, but it could not move past the distribution challenge.
“For products like PicSee, which are inherently social, the journey typically unfolds in three stages: build the product, build distribution, and then monetise it. We had a clear monetisation roadmap, including a premium subscription offering features such as downloading high-resolution photos, automatically curating albums, and more. However, we got stuck on solving the distribution challenge,” he added.
Following the shutdown, Billion Hearts Software Technologies will return nearly 65% of the about ₹33 crore it had raised to investors. Its backers included Blume Ventures, General Catalyst, Athera Venture Partners and several angel investors.
This is Bidawatka’s second venture to close. Koo, the microblogging platform he cofounded, ceased operations in 2024 after prolonged acquisition discussions did not materialise.
The closure comes at a time when India’s startup ecosystem continues to see several shutdowns and business pivots due to funding pressure, scaling challenges, failed acquisition talks and other operational issues.
Fashion-focused quick commerce startup Klydo recently paused its consumer operations less than a year after launch and is now looking to pivot around a “sharper product vision”. Earlier this year, online matchmaking platform Juleo shut operations after failing to raise further capital. Last year, at least 25 startups, including Astra, Beepkart, BharatAgri and Blip, also wound up operations.
