Koo founder Mayank Bidawatka shuts PicSee, will return capital to General Catalyst, Blume, other investors

Koo founder Mayank Bidawatka shuts PicSee, will return capital to General Catalyst, Blume, other investors

Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder of social media platform Koo, has decided to shut down his latest startup, PicSee, after the AI photo-sharing app failed to achieve product-market fit, attract a meaningful acquisition offer or build the momentum needed to scale, according to an investor memo seen by Moneycontrol.

PicSee used AI-driven facial recognition to scan a user’s photo gallery, identify their friends, and generate personalised invites. Once both friends approve the connection, the app automatically shares the photos they’ve taken of each other.

While PicSee managed to attract an initial set of users, that alone was not enough. For a photo-sharing app to succeed, users also need their friends and family, their immediate social network, to join the platform. While the first hurdle was crossed, convincing those secondary users to sign up proved far more difficult, limiting the app's ability to achieve meaningful scale.

Bidawatka said PicSee's early traction proved misleading, with much of the user growth coming from "junk signups" acquired through Meta ads that failed to convert into revenue. The startup also lacked a "strong next idea", while the team's conviction to keep scaling the business had faded, he wrote.

Bidawatka confirmed the developments to Moneycontrol.

Bidawatka, in the note, said an interactive social app like PicSee either has to scale quickly or not be built at all. "Anything in the middle won't get us to the outcome we're aiming for," Bidawatka wrote, adding that pursuing incremental iterations would only consume more time, money and energy.

It was better to be frugal and cognisant rather than burning through the capital, he added.

PicSee, started in August 2024 and began operations in October 2025, was backed by General Catalyst, Blume Ventures, Athera and a clutch of other angel investors. The company had raised a total of Rs 30-35 crore across two rounds and about 60-65 percent of that amount would now be returned to investors, per Bidawatka’s note.

He has reached an agreement to treat institutional and angel investors on par, the note added. While not uncommon, investors are paid according to the liquidation waterfall.

Institutional VCs often have liquidation preferences, while angels investing through Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFEs), Compulsory Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS), or preferred shares may have different rights.

If there's only a small amount of money left, institutional investors may legally receive more than angels.

PicSee, or Billion Hearts, marks the third startup that Bidawatka has founded. He began his entrepreneurial journey with media planning platform The Media Ant in 2012, before co-founding commerce platform Goodbox in 2015. After exiting both ventures, he launched Koo, the Indian social media platform once positioned as a rival to X (formerly Twitter).

Koo was wound down in July 2024 after struggling to achieve product-market fit and scale its user base. Bidawatka subsequently launched PicSee, another consumer social app, but has now decided to shut that venture as well. What he builds next remains to be seen.

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