Cognition, the AI coding startup behind Devin, has acquired The Interaction Company of California, the maker of Poke, a personal agent that operates inside a user’s text messages. Cognition confirmed the deal on July 23, 2026, in a blog post from co-founder Scott Wu. Poke initiates conversations unprompted, follows up over time, and has exchanged more than 100 million messages with users over the previous three months, according to Cognition. It remains the only AI agent cleared to send native texts through Apple Messages.
Cognition acquired TierZero two days earlier, on July 22. Two acquisitions inside a week reads as a consolidation sprint rather than a single opportunistic buy.
Devin sells developer productivity to engineering teams. Poke sells companionship to consumers over SMS. Pairing them suggests Cognition is shopping for distribution channels as much as new capability, a bet that its cloud-agent infrastructure can carry both products at once. Deal terms were not disclosed.
Announced by Cognition on July 23, 2026.
