Phota Labs Launches Free iOS AI Photo App After Raising $5.6 Million

2 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Nov 12

Phota Labs released a free iOS app that uses an AI “photo assistant” to turn everyday snapshots into professional-looking images while aiming to preserve the original moment.
The app focuses on fixing poorly captured shots rather than just applying edits, using in-house personalization technology to keep a person’s identity consistent even in blurry or heavily transformed photos.
Users can choose styles ranging from subtle corrections to dramatic perspective changes, and every AI-altered image carries an invisible watermark when shared on social platforms.
Founded by former Adobe colleagues Cecilia Zhang and Zach Xia, the a16z-backed startup raised a $5.6 million seed round last year and plans to test a freemium model and later expand to Android.