[July 28, 2026]

Text-Based AI Is Just the Start. Liquid Interactive Launches With $700,000 to Let Anyone Build Visual-First AI Experiences

Liquid Interactive, a new venture incubated at Canadian AI venture studio AXL, today launched with a bet on how people will use AI next: not as a box to type into, but as something you can reach into, move through, and interact with. Co-founded by Sasha Ivanov (CEO) and Ben Pearman (CTO), the company is backed by $700,000 CAD in pre-seed funding from AXL.

The company was prototyped inside AXL, where Ivanov was lead prototyper and Pearman an engineer, before spinning out as a standalone venture. The two previously co-founded Maple Scan, a top-charting iOS app with more than 130,000 downloads.

Interactive AI is shaping the next shift in computing.

Today's AI is still largely text-based. Type a prompt into a box and receive an answer. As generative AI becomes ubiquitous, the company believes the next generation of AI experiences will move beyond text prompts toward rich, interactive visual experiences.

Liquid Photos is available now.

Liquid Interactive is starting with the place where thousands of precious moments are stored: camera rolls. Liquid Photos, the company's first product, turns the static images from a user's camera roll into something they can swipe through, pull apart, and explore.

Early demos of Liquid Photos on X and Instagram have received over 1 million views, with engagement from leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Apple, Adobe, and more.

The app is now available for free download on Liquid's website. Here's how it works:

• Turn a hikeinto an interactive journey. Add a series of hiking photos and Liquid Photos reconstructs the trail between them, letting viewers swipe through the route instead of flipping through disconnected images.
• Make products interactive. Peek inside everyday objects, like a watch. The app turns a flat photo into an interactive visual that can be pulled apart to see the parts inside, no 3D scan or special equipment required.
• Ask questions about your photos. Turn an album into an interactive guide by asking questions like "What mountain is this?", or "How do I use this product?" Liquid Photos generates visual, interactive explanations directly from the album's images.

"For 30 years, the way we use computers has barely changed - we type, we tap, we scroll," said Sasha Ivanov, Co-Founder and CEO of Liquid Interactive. "Liquid Photos offers the first glimpse of something different, where you reach into a photo and move through it. Today, that makes your camera roll feel alive. In the future, it means anyone can build a rich, interactive experience without writing a line of code."

"The companies that matter from here won't be the ones with the biggest model. They'll be the ones that invent new ways for people to interact with it," said Daniel Wigdor, Co-Founder and CEO of AXL. "That's the applied layer, and it's about to produce the most important companies of this generation. We've watched Sasha and Ben build a category-defining app with Maple Scan before, and we're confident that they can do it again, this time at a scale that could define how everyone creates content with AI."

Coming soon: Liquid Studio for interactive brand stories

Liquid Photos is the first of several planned products built on the same underlying technology, with a broader vision of driving a foundational shift in creating and interacting with content.

One of these products is Liquid Studio, which opens these capabilities to brands, agencies, and creative teams for custom projects. It turns flat product shots into interactive experiences, where each tap or swipe takes them to a different path or generates new information.

For the teams who shape how brands show up online, it's a new medium to work in, and one they can embed directly into the products, pages, and campaigns they already run.

Learn more about Liquid Interactive's mission at liquidinteractive.ai. Liquid Photos will soon be available on Apple's App Store and Google Play.

About Liquid Interactive
Liquid Interactive is building the next generation of AI interfaces, moving beyond text to rich, interactive visual experiences. The platform enables brands, creators, and developers to create immersive media for everywhere people click, swipe, and shop, without specialized design or editing skills. Its first app, Liquid Photos, turns the static camera roll into something people can move through and explore. Founded by Sasha Ivanov and Ben Pearman and incubated at AXL, the company is based in Toronto. Learn more at liquidinteractive.ai.

About AXL
AXL is a Canadian venture studio transforming world-class research into high-growth companies that shape the future of applied AI. Led by seasoned tech entrepreneurs and applied AI experts, AXL's mission is to ensure Canada's top breakthroughs are built and scaled at home. By connecting academia with real market demand and full-stack venture creation, AXL helps Canada move from invention to impact, anchoring talent, intellectual property, and long-term economic value within the country. For more information, visit axl.vc and connect with us on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260728362913/en/

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