Pimento: Revolutionizing Creative Ideation with Generative AI
Pimento, a promising French startup, is leveraging generative AI to transform the ideation and brainstorming phases of creative processes. The company has recently secured €3 million ($3.2 million) in funding from an exciting array of investors.
To illustrate the impact of Pimento, consider creative teams working on brand redesigns, advertising campaigns, video game development, or animated films. These teams will turn to Pimento on the first day of their projects as their go-to tool for initiating research and inspiration.
Users aim to create a comprehensive reference document filled with images, text, and color palettes that will guide their projects moving forward. This document becomes a critical source of inspiration and serves as initial guidelines for other teams involved.
During this phase, constant back-and-forth communication is essential, as clients and managers often refine their visions. They may set a direction for the next meeting in two weeks, but if the creative output doesn’t align with their expectations, teams must start from scratch, which can be frustrating.
Currently, many creatives depend on platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, Behance, Canva, and Figma to source images and develop mood boards. The Pimento team believes that, with the help of artificial intelligence, they can elevate creativity and streamline the process.
“It enables you to explore various directions more rapidly, leading to higher-quality projects,” co-founder Tomás Yany explained. He noted that AI models offer a depth of knowledge that no single designer could match, thanks to their comprehensive training on diverse data sets, including insights from Japan and Latin America.
Pimento's seed funding round was spearheaded by Partech and Cygni Capital, with participation from notable angel investors including Julien Chaumond (Hugging Face), Stanislas Polu (Dust), Thibaud Elzière (Hexa), Jean-Charles Samuelian (Alan), Igor Manceau (former creative director at Ubisoft), Jonathan Widawski (Maze), Alessandro Sabatelli (ex-Apple), and Nicolas Steegmann (ex-Stupeflix).
How Pimento Works
During a recent demo, Pimento’s co-founders showcased how the tool operates. Users begin by entering a brief description of their project goals. They then upload a few images that will serve as initial references.
Subsequently, Pimento intelligently synthesizes these inputs with AI models to generate relevant images, text, and color suggestions. The user interface features three buttons that allow users to instantly create custom images, text, or colors.
If any of Pimento’s suggestions resonate, users can save them for future reference. Once completed, users can create a shareable link to distribute a board containing all their saved images, colors, and text.
What sets Pimento apart from standard image-generating AI tools is its tailored output based on your initial brief, acting as a creative companion. Moreover, users can refine Pimento’s suggestions — selecting two appealing images to merge or reusing elements from existing outputs to generate new variants.
“There’s an ongoing discussion about how to engage with AI models. I believe the future is not limited to a chat interface for prompts,” co-founder Florent Facq shared. While prompting is integral to Pimento, the company aims to provide multiple interaction methods for users.
Looking ahead, Pimento plans to roll out enhanced features, including the ability to customize electronic boards that can be shared with team members or clients. Presently, the company utilizes fine-tuned open-source models such as Stable Diffusion and Llama, with plans to incorporate Mistral AI soon.
With a promising roadmap for development, the recent funding round positions Pimento for exciting advancements and growth. It will be fascinating to observe how organizations adopt and integrate this innovative tool into their creative workflows.
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