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Poke

Category: AI Agents

A consumer AI personal assistant that lives inside messaging apps (iMessage, SMS, Telegram, WhatsApp), allowing users to manage email, calendar, health, smart home, and more via text conversations. Poke was founded in 2024. The company is led by Marvin von Hagen. Based in Palo Alto, California, United States. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $25M. Latest round: Series A. Key investors include General Catalyst, Spark Capital, Village Global, Earlybird VC, Ken Howery (PayPal co-founder), Arash Ferdowsi (Dropbox co-founder), Bradley Horowitz (former Google VP), Karina Nguyen (OpenAI researcher), Founders from Stripe, Vercel, Cognition.

Founded
2024
Headquarters
Palo Alto, California, United States
Team size
11-50
Total funding
$25M

Value proposition

Poke turns AI agent interaction into something as simple as texting a friend — no app download, no new UI, no terminal commands. It operates inside the messaging apps people already use (iMessage, SMS, Telegram, WhatsApp) and proactively manages email, calendar, reminders, health tracking, smart home control, and more through natural conversation.

Products and solutions

Poke AI Assistant (text-message based AI agent), Poke Recipes (pre-made automations/integrations), Poke Kitchen (developer platform for custom integrations via MCP), available on iMessage, SMS, Telegram, and WhatsApp

Unique value

Unlike competitors tied to a single AI provider (Meta AI → Meta models; ChatGPT → OpenAI), Poke routes each task to the best model (Anthropic, OpenAI, Mistral, Voyage + fine-tuned in-house). It's agentic AI for non-technical users: no CLI, no setup, just text. As of June 2026, it's the first and only third-party AI agent approved on Apple's Messages for Business platform.

Target customer

Consumer users who want AI assistance without technical complexity — from students and professionals to anyone seeking a personal assistant via text message. Also developers building custom integrations via Poke's MCP/Kitchen platform.

Industries served

Personal Productivity, Health & Wellness, Smart Home, Email Management, Calendar & Scheduling, Travel, Finance

Technology advantage

Model-agnostic routing (uses Anthropic, OpenAI, Mistral, Voyage + fine-tuned in-house models — not locked to one provider); operates natively inside messaging apps via Linq integration; "Recipes" ecosystem with one-click automations for 20+ services (Gmail, Calendar, Notion, Linear, Oura, Strava, Fitbit, Philips Hue, Sonos, GitHub, Supabase, etc.); proactive AI that learns user patterns; SOC 2 and CASA Tier 2 certified; Maximum Privacy mode by default (data firewall so engineers cannot access conversations)

How they differentiate

1) No app or CLI required — works via familiar text messaging interfaces; 2) Model-agnostic architecture (best-of-breed routing vs. single-provider lock-in); 3) Proactive, personality-driven interactions vs. reactive chatbots; 4) First-mover advantage as Apple's first approved AI agent on Messages for Business; 5) "Recipe" marketplace allowing users to share automations; 6) Pay-what-feels-fair pricing model

Main competitors

OpenClaw (agentic AI CLI tool, acquired by OpenAI), Meta AI (bound to Meta models, available on WhatsApp/Messenger), ChatGPT / OpenAI (bound to OpenAI models, app-based)

Key partnerships

Apple (first approved AI agent on Messages for Business platform — per-user fee model), Linq (technology enabling AI assistants within messaging apps), General Catalyst (lead seed investor, strategic partner)

Notable customers

Beta tested by 6, 000+ users from companies including OpenAI, Google, Stripe, Figma, Anthropic, Dropbox, Founders Fund, Cognition, and General Catalyst

Major milestones

2024: Company founded (The Interaction Company of California), 2024-2025: Closed beta with 6,000+ Silicon Valley insiders, 200,000+ messages/month, Sep 2025: Public launch of Poke.com + $15M seed at $100M valuation, March 2026: Full public rollout, April 2026: $10M additional funding (Spark Capital) at $300M valuation, June 2026: Approved as first third-party AI agent on Apple's Messages for Business platform — 100M+ messages relayed

Growth metrics

100M+ messages relayed (as of June 2026); 6,000+ beta testers from top Silicon Valley companies; 200,000+ messages/month during beta; $100M seed valuation (Sep 2025); $300M post-money valuation (April 2026)

Market positioning

Positioned as the "AI agent for everyone" — a consumer-friendly alternative to technical agentic systems like OpenClaw. Bridges the gap between general-purpose chatbots (ChatGPT) and complex automation tools, targeting mass-market adoption through the ubiquity of text messaging.

Geographic focus

United States (headquarters and primary market), expanding to EU (WhatsApp integration in EU enabled by antitrust rulings), Brazil, and other international markets

About Marvin von Hagen

Ex-Tesla Intern; MIT research (collective intelligence); Co-founded TUM Boring (won Elon Musk's Not-a-Boring Competition 2021); Exposed Microsoft Bing Chat's hidden "Sydney" alter ego; MIT alum (studied at MIT, Sciences Po Paris, TUM Munich)

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