Cognition has acquired The Interaction Company, the firm behind AI assistant Poke, in a deal valued in the low hundreds of millions. The purchase merges Cognition’s enterprise-focused AI with Poke’s conversational AI designed for everyday messaging apps.
Launched in early 2026, Poke offers a relaxed, text-based interaction style across platforms like iMessage, WhatsApp, and Telegram. The startup quickly gained momentum after raising $15 million in a 2025 seed round, reaching a valuation near $100 million, and later hitting $300 million post-funding. Scott Wu, Cognition’s co-founder, was also an early investor in Poke.
In June, Poke became the first independent AI agent officially approved for Apple’s Messages for Business, marking a major step in integrating AI assistants within mainstream communication tools.
Cognition, founded in late 2023 by Wu, Steven Hao, and Walden Yan, earned recognition for Devin, an autonomous AI coding agent tackling complex software tasks. The acquisition signals a strategic move to combine sophisticated enterprise AI capabilities with user-friendly conversational interfaces.
According to Cognition’s team, the deal does not involve any blockchain elements no tokens, on-chain governance, or decentralized networks played a role. Poke’s acceptance by Apple’s platform reflects gatekeeping based on safety and reliability, criteria that decentralized systems struggle to replicate in practice.
