Poke Aims to Democratize AI Agents Through Text Messaging

A new startup is betting that the future of AI assistance isn't another app to download, but a simple text conversation. Poke, an AI agent from Palo Alto's The Interaction Company, operates through iMessage, SMS, and Telegram, turning everyday messaging platforms into a command center for a digital assistant.

Launched publicly in March, Poke handles tasks like calendar management, health tracking, smart home control, and email filtering directly via text. Unlike conversational chatbots, it's designed for action—sending a medication reminder, checking a flight status, or editing a photo based on a written request. Users can also create and share their own text-based automations.

The company, led by co-founders Marvin von Hagen and Felix Schlegel, recently secured an additional $10 million, bringing its total funding to $25 million and its valuation to $300 million. Major backers include Spark Capital and General Catalyst, alongside angels from Stripe, OpenAI, and Hugging Face.

Poke's emergence coincides with intense industry focus on 'agentic' AI that can execute tasks. However, tools like OpenClaw often require technical setup and raise security questions. Poke's team observed that users of their earlier email assistant product began asking it to manage non-email tasks, drawn to its conversational style. This prompted a pivot toward a general-purpose, proactive assistant accessible without software installation.

A key differentiator, according to von Hagen, is model flexibility. Poke selects from various AI models to complete a task, avoiding lock-in to a single provider's technology. It uses a solution called Linq to function within messaging apps. While Meta currently restricts such agents on WhatsApp, regulatory pressure in the EU and Brazil may change that.

The service offers pre-built 'recipes' for automation across health, productivity, and home categories, connecting to services like Gmail, Google Calendar, Strava, and Philips Hue. A multi-layered security model includes regular penetration testing and strict access controls. Pricing is usage-based, with many functions remaining free; the company's current priority is growth over profitability. Early user-created automations number in the thousands, hinting at the platform's expanding utility.

Source: TechCrunch