When launching the online startup business Mi Padrino last April, Kim Gamez had no idea how quickly the concept would catch on.

Microsoft’s investment arm M12 on Tuesday announced the winners of its inaugural Female Founders Competition that awarded $4 million to two women-led startups.

Even the simplest 3D design apps are very different from traditional digital drawing tools – but Mental Canvas looks to be a 3D drawing tool that even an artist or designer who primarily uses a pencil rather than Photoshop's Pencil tool could easily master.

Mental Canvas is not the first software that attempts to save the act of sketching--we have seen 3D "sketching" tools such as SketchUp, as well as applications that simply simulate sketching on paper, such as Morpholio's popular range of sketching apps.

Wer schon einmal etwas im Internet bestellt hat, weiss, wie mühsam es sein kann, bis das Paket in den eigenen vier Wänden ankommt: Zuerst erscheint der Pöstler zum falschen Zeitpunkt, dann steht man mit dem Abholzettel vor der bereits geschlossenen Post und beim nächsten Liefertermin kommt kurzfristig etwas dazwischen.