Former TikTok Employees Raise $2.2M to Build AI-Powered Photo Posing App Superpose

Former TikTok employees Melody Chu and Jing Liu have launched Superpose, an AI-powered iOS app designed to help people take better photographs by providing real-time guidance on how to pose.

The startup has raised $2.2 million in funding led by Khosla Ventures, Meitu and OTR Ventures. Launched in July, Superpose is taking a different approach to AI-powered photography by focusing on how people position themselves in real-world photos rather than generating artificial backgrounds or replacing the original environment.

AI That Helps You Pose

Taking a good photograph can be difficult even with a high-quality camera. People may struggle with where to place their hands, how to position their body or how to recreate a pose they have seen elsewhere.

Superpose aims to address that problem through computer vision and generative AI.

The app generates four AI-powered pose recommendations for users. People can save a preferred recommendation and use the platform's Match Pose feature to recreate the position while taking their own photograph.

The founders say their longer-term goal is to develop a camera experience where AI provides guidance during the process of capturing a photo.

Focusing on Real-Life Photography

Rather than using generative AI to create new backgrounds or place people into artificial environments, Superpose is designed around real-world photography.

The concept came partly from co-founder Melody Chu's own experience taking photographs. She saw an opportunity to use advances in computer vision and generative AI to solve a common problem - helping people look more natural and confident in photographs.

The company acknowledges that its early recommendations can sometimes appear unnatural. Improving the realism and personalization of the suggested poses is therefore an important part of its ongoing product development.

Founders With Experience Across Major Tech Companies

Superpose was founded by Melody Chu and Jing Liu, both of whom have backgrounds in technology and social media.

Chu previously worked at companies including Meta, TikTok, Roblox and Slack. Liu was a founding engineer at a startup focused on 3D face scanning before working on image and video models at TikTok.

Their experience in social platforms, computer vision and AI gives the startup a foundation for developing an AI-native photography product.

Entering a Growing AI Photography Market

Superpose enters a market where major technology companies are already incorporating AI into photography.

Google's Pixel devices include an AI-powered camera coach designed to help users with framing and composition. Adobe has also introduced AI-powered photography features, including Photo Critique, which provides assessments intended to help users improve their photography.

Superpose is focusing on a narrower problem: helping people understand how to position their bodies and recreate poses while capturing real photographs.

$2.2M to Develop the Product

The $2.2 million funding round led by Khosla Ventures, Meitu and OTR Ventures will support the development and expansion of Superpose's AI-powered photography experience.

The startup's immediate product focuses on generating pose recommendations and helping users match them, while its broader ambition is to create a camera that can provide AI guidance as people take photographs.

As AI becomes increasingly integrated into cameras and mobile photography, Superpose is betting that the next improvement may not simply be better image generation or editing, but better guidance before the shutter is pressed.