Cognition buys Poke for low nine figures because AI personality is now a moat

TechCrunch·high signal

Cognition acquired The Interaction Company of California, maker of the messaging-native assistant Poke, in a deal valuing it in the low nine figures — Scott Wu and Walden Yan had been angel investors. Poke launched March 2026 across iMessage, SMS, Telegram, and WhatsApp and processed over 100 million messages in three months, becoming the first AI agent approved for Apple's Messages for Business in June. Co-founder Marvin von Hagen floated Poke eventually orchestrating multiple Devin sessions and carrying memory across them.