EDINBURGH-based tech start-up PicoJar has completed a $185,000 fundraising in which Gareth Williams, co-founder of flight-search engine pioneer Skyscanner, has participated.
The early “pre-seed” funding round was led by Techstart Ventures.
Founded by University of Washington computer science graduate Siwei Kang, PicoJar is a “screenshot-first”, note-taking application (app) that allows users to “curate, and share, knowledge bases”. The app enables people to annotate screenshots, of the likes of an educational course slide or social-media post. It also allows people to create and share lists of screenshots in a matter of seconds.
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Ms Kang, chief executive of PicoJar, said: “In the age of attention economy, the rapid speed at which we consume information calls for a more effective way to capture thoughts and ideas – copy-pasting is simply too slow. PicoJar believes mobile screenshots are the digital synapses that can capture any inspiration at the blink of an eye from literally anywhere – from a YouTube course slide to an insight encountered on Twitter.”
She highlighted her belief that “there is no tool in the market that is making these screenshots useful”. Ms Kang, who retains a majority stake in PicoJar, added: “Most of them usually end up cluttering your photostream and never see the daylight again.”
PicoJar aims to change the way users capture and process information by using “on-device” artificial intelligence to make it “extremely easy to organise, resurface, and share screenshots”.
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Its app is aimed at enabling users to expand the lifespan of the information they have consumed, and making their knowledge easily retrievable.
Venture capital investor Techstart, which focuses on investment in seed-stage start-ups in Scotland and Northern Ireland, has invested in more than 60 early-stage businesses since raising its first fund in 2015.
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