Photomyne

Last updated
Photomyne
Company typePublic
IndustryAI, Mobile B2C
Founded2014
FounderNir Tzemah, Yair Segalovitz, Omer Shoor, Natalie Rodrig Verter
Headquarters
Israel

Photomyne Ltd. is a tech company that develops artificial intelligence-driven mobile applications and services focused on the digital preservation of personal memories. Its platform enables users to scan, restore, and organize analog photographs and other visual media, such as slides and film negatives, using a smartphone. [1] [2] [3] Photomyne’s products are designed to help individuals safeguard and share historical and family visual archives, and are available worldwide on both iOS and Android platforms. [4] [5]

Contents

History

Photomyne was founded in 2014 by Nir Tzemah, Yair Segalovitz, Omer Shoor, and Natalie Rodrig Verter. [6] [7] The company’s early development focused on enabling smartphones to efficiently capture and digitize multiple printed photographs in a single scan, using automated cropping and enhancement powered by machine learning. [3] [8]

In 2016, The company raised $2.6 million in seed funding to advance its image processing technology and support early global adoption. [9] [10] In 2017, Photomyne won the Visual 1st Best of Show Award at the Visual 1st conference in San Francisco. [11] The company completed a $5 million Series A round in 2018 to deepen its AI research and extend its product line. [12] In 2019, Photomyne was recognized with the Red Herring Top 100 Europe award for innovation and growth. [13]

In 2021, Photomyne conducted an initial public offering (IPO) on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. [14] [15] In 2023, Photomyne won the Grand Award at the Asia Smart App Awards 2022/2023, along with the Gold Award in the “Lifestyle & Entertainment” category. [16] In 2024, the company was included in Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) list of the top 50 most popular consumer generative AI products. [17] [18]

Products

Photo Scan By Photomyne App

The Photomyne Photo Scan app is the company’s flagship product, designed to help users digitize and preserve printed photographs. [8] [3] The app enables multi-photo scanning, automated cropping, and image enhancement, and adding metadata such as names, dates, locations, and optional audio recordings. It also offers cloud backup, saving to device storage, and sharing through email and other platforms. [19] [2] [15] [1] Reviewers have frequently noted the app’s ability to process several photos in a single capture and produce high-resolution digital outputs. [20] [21] [1]

SlideScan

SlideScan is an application for converting photographic slides into digital images using AI-based detection and color restoration techniques to preserve the appearance of the original material. [3] [22]

FilmBox

FilmBox enables users to scan film negatives and employs AI to invert and enhance them into digital photographs. [3] [23]

Activities

Photomyne uses machine learning and AI technology to digitize, preserve, enjoy and share cherished memories which are currently kept in physical form. [24] [5] Photomyne's apps are available in 16 languages, including Western European languages, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Arabic, and more. [4] [25]

Technology

Photomyne’s applications employ machine learning and computer vision to automate the digitization of analog photographs and related visual media. The software is designed to identify and separate multiple printed photos captured in a single frame, followed by automated cropping and perspective correction to produce accurate digital reproductions. [26]

To support long-term preservation of personal and family visual history, Photomyne’s technology includes image-enhancement capabilities such as sharpening, contrast adjustment, and restoration of aged or faded prints. The platform also offers AI-based colorization of black-and-white photos. [27]

Digitized materials can be backed up, organized, and accessed through Photomyne’s cloud services, allowing users to maintain searchable, shareable digital archives of their analog photo collections. [28]

Photomyne holds several U.S. patents related to image processing and computer-vision techniques used in its applications, including patents 9,754,163, 9,928,418, 10,198,629, and 10,452,905, which support its AI-based system for detecting objects in images and digitizing analog photo collections. [29]

2024 Class Action Lawsuit and Dismissal

On July 17, 2024, a class action lawsuit was filed in Illinois alleging that Photomyne violated the Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting and storing biometric identifiers derived from user-uploaded photographs without proper notice or consent. [30] The lawsuit additionally claimed that the company lacked publicly available data retention and deletion policies. [30] The case was subsequently dismissed, as reflected in federal court records from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Docket No. 1:24-cv-06048). [30]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report (2023-01-03). "How to digitize old photos and slides". Fox News. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  2. 1 2 James, Cordilia (21 November 2023). "Bring Old Photos of Mom to Life With These Apps". Wall Street Journal.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Biersdorfer, J. D. (2022-05-04). "How to Free Childhood Memories Trapped in Ancient Film". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  4. 1 2 Stern, Joanna (6 January 2021). "The Best Ways to Digitize Old Photos, Tapes and Discs So Your Memories Live On". The Wall Street Journal.
  5. 1 2 "Uno scatto e l'album dei ricordi lo fa Photomyne: salva le foto e le invia". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  6. ↑ "Photomyne Ltd". WSJ.
  7. ↑ Settele, Claude (2024-02-10). "Digitalisierung von alten Fotografien und Dias". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Swiss High German). ISSN   0376-6829 . Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  8. 1 2 George Cairns (2023-04-10). "How to restore old photos". Creative Bloq. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  9. ↑ Perez, Sarah (2016-05-27). "Photomyne grabs $2.6 million to bring your old photos online". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  10. ↑ "Photomyne Is a Smartphone App Designed For Digitizing Old Photo Prints | Popular Photography". 2016-06-03. Archived from the original on 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  11. ↑ "Awards". Visual 1st. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  12. ↑ Perez, Sarah (2018-06-18). "Photomyne raises $5 million for its A.I.-powered photo scanning app". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  13. ↑ Lee, Sean (2019-02-21). "2019 Red Herring Top 100 Europe Winners". Red Herring. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  14. ↑ אפלברג, שלי (24 February 2021). "פוטומיין פיתחה אפליקציה לסריקת תמונות - ותנסה להנפיק לפי שווי של 260 מיליון שקל". The Marker.
  15. 1 2 Jolly, Jennifer. "Digital copies of old photos can keep your memories alive. Here's how to scan them". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  16. ↑ "Photomyne Wins Grand Award at the 2022/23 Asia Smart App Summit". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  17. ↑ Moore, Olivia (2024-03-13). "The Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps". Andreessen Horowitz. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  18. ↑ "Découvrez l'appli israélienne de photos Photomyne". Times of Israel. 15 August 2016.
  19. ↑ Hill, Simon. "How to Digitize Old Photos (We Compared Photo Scanning Apps and a Scanner)". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  20. ↑ Stern, Joanna (20 December 2016). "The Best New Ways to Scan Your Old Photos". The Wall Street Journal.
  21. ↑ "How to organize favorite sentimental items while ditching the clutter". TODAY.com. 2016-11-02. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  22. ↑ Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report (2023-12-01). "Can AI make photos of you look better than you do in real life?". Fox News. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  23. ↑ ICHIMURA, ANRI (5 July 2020). "Got a Box Full of Film Negatives? This App Can 'Develop' Your Film Strips Completely Online". Esquire.
  24. ↑ Kelly, Heather (28 July 2023). "You don't need to own a printer. Do this instead". Washington Post.
  25. ↑ Biersdorfer, J. D. (2018-12-19). "How to Rescue, Repair and Revive Old Family Photos". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  26. ↑ "Photomyne app scans multiple prints at a time". DPReview. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  27. ↑ Nelson, Cathi (2024-12-17). "How to Preserve Your Memories with Artifcts and Photomyne". The Photo Managers. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  28. ↑ nocamels (2016-06-22). "Photomyne App Digitizes Old Photo Albums". NoCamels. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  29. ↑ "Patents Assigned to PHOTOMYNE LTD". Justia Patents. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  30. 1 2 3 "Photomyne Facing BIPA Class Action Lawsuit Over Facial Recognition Technology in Photo-Editing Apps". www.classaction.org. 2024-07-29. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
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