French startup Pimento is making waves with its innovative use of generative AI, focusing on the initial stages of creative processes such as ideation, brainstorming, and moodboarding. Recently, the company successfully raised $3.2 million (€3 million) in a funding round, drawing support from a diverse group of investors.

 Pimento serves as a crucial tool for creative teams embarking on projects like brand redesigns, ad campaigns, video games, or animation movies. It facilitates the research process by enabling users to compile reference documents containing images, text, and colors, serving as the primary inspiration and initial guidelines for the project.Creative teams often face challenges during this phase due to frequent changes in direction from clients or managers. Pimento aims to streamline this process by leveraging artificial intelligence, allowing users to explore multiple directions quickly and produce higher-quality projects.

The seed round for Pimento was led by Partech and Cygni Capital, with participation from notable angel investors. Pimento's co-founders demonstrated the tool's functionality, emphasizing its unique approach tailored to the user's initial brief. Unlike off-the-shelf image-generating AI models, Pimento becomes a creative companion, offering personalized outputs that users can iterate on.

Pimento's future plans include adding features to customize shared boards, enhancing interaction with content, and integrating more advanced AI models. The recent funding injection is expected to fuel product development, and the startup is poised to explore how companies will incorporate Pimento into their creative processes.