Snapture

Improving Mobile Photography

It started as an obsession to do something innovative in their Electrical and Computer Engineering undergraduate lab — improving the photography experience on emerging mobile devices.

Today, Bowei Gai (E'06,'07), Ajay Panagariya (E'06) and Samir Shah (E'06) are co-founders of Snapture Labs. The iPhone application they developed has replaced the iPhone's basic camera for hundreds of thousands of users around the world.

"Knowing that thousands of people use and love your product all over the world drives us every day," said Panagariya. "We've received emails and photos from users in over 160 countries."

Instead of capturing just one photo, Snapture captures a series of three and provides instant feedback to users, allowing them to pick the best shot.

"It's like an interactive picture-in-picture system right on your camera viewfinder," explained Shah. "Snapture is also in the process of getting more social. A new version of it was just released that has integration with Facebook and Twitter, allowing users to both save photos to their device and broadcast them to the world."

In addition to taking pride in building a popular product and brand, Panagariya says at its core, the team consists of engineering and photography enthusiasts.

"Building a product around something you're already passionate and invested in is just the icing on the cake," he said.

Gai was recently invited to speak to students enrolled in the University of Singapore's entrepreneurship program.

"The feedback from the students was absolutely heartwarming," Gai said. "I felt connected to these students on whole different level. There is something very satisfying about inspiring others through your words and actions."

Gai says he has been fortunate to have many great mentors in his start-up career and is driven to work hard and succeed so that he can be that same role model for future generations of budding entrepreneurs.

"Carnegie Mellon and the start-up world are both filled with brilliantly smart people," Gai said. "It can be overwhelming at times. Carnegie Mellon taught me to be unfazed by those around me, knowing the true criteria for success is hard work and perseverance."

Users send feedback frequently — telling them how they used particular features of Snapture to document their child's dance recital or capture moments from family events.

"Knowing your product helped parents take better photos of their kids is a great feeling," Shah said.

Snapture was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal and on The BBC News Hour.

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