# Cognition's acquisition of Poke

Part of Inside Cognition, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-04. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/acquisitions/poke

Poke is a personal agent that lives in your texts, per Cognition's announcement.

- Announced: Jul 23, 2026
- Deal: Acquisition, per TechCrunch; Cognition's post says it is "welcoming" the company
- Price: TechCrunch reported the deal valued the company in the "low nine figures", a price co-founder Marvin von Hagen confirmed to TechCrunch. [1](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/why-cognition-bought-poke-ai-personality-is-becoming-a-competitive-advantage/)

## What happened, by date

- Apr 8, 2026: TechCrunch reported the company had raised a $15 million seed round the previous year plus $10 million more, at a $300 million post-money valuation, with Spark Capital and General Catalyst as its main institutional investors. [1](https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/08/poke-makes-ai-agents-as-easy-as-sending-a-text/)
- Jun 4, 2026: TechCrunch reported Apple approved Poke as the first AI agent on its Messages for Business platform. [1](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/04/apple-approves-poke-as-the-first-ai-agent-on-its-messages-for-business-platform/)
- Jul 23, 2026: Scott Wu announced Cognition was welcoming The Interaction Company of California, noting he and Walden Yan had been early angel investors in it. [1](https://cognition.com/blog/interaction)
- Jul 23, 2026: Cognition said people had exchanged more than 100 million messages with Poke in the prior three months. [1](https://cognition.com/blog/interaction)
- Jul 24, 2026: TechCrunch reported the price was in the low nine figures, confirmed by Marvin von Hagen. [1](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/why-cognition-bought-poke-ai-personality-is-becoming-a-competitive-advantage/)

## In their own words

> The Interaction team has built an agent that people love: it’s proactive, it knows you, and it’s fun to talk to. … That’s exactly how working with Devin should feel, and now we get to build it together. … In fact, Walden and I were early angels in Interaction.

Scott Wu, Cognition CEO, Jul 23, 2026 [1](https://cognition.com/blog/interaction)

## Who joined Cognition

- [Marvin von Hagen](https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/marvin-von-hagen) (founder): Co-founder; now Head of Interaction [1](https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/08/poke-makes-ai-agents-as-easy-as-sending-a-text/) [2](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/why-cognition-bought-poke-ai-personality-is-becoming-a-competitive-advantage/) [3](https://cognition.com/blog/interaction) [4](https://www.linkedin.com/in/marvinvonhagen)
- [Felix Schlegel](https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/felix-schlegel) (founder): Co-founder [1](https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/08/poke-makes-ai-agents-as-easy-as-sending-a-text/)
- [Samyok Nepal](https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/samyok-nepal): Member of Technical Staff, The Interaction Company of California; now Member of Technical Staff [1](https://cognition.com/blog/interaction) [2](https://www.linkedin.com/in/samyok)
- [Max Lohmann](https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/maximilian-lohmann): Member of Technical Staff, The Interaction Company of California; now Member of Technical Staff [1](https://cognition.com/blog/interaction) [2](https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximilian-lohmann)
- [Pavel Tritchkov](https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/pavel-tritchkov): Head of GTM & Ops, The Interaction Company of California; now r&d [1](https://cognition.com/blog/interaction) [2](https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156)

## What happened to Poke

Cognition said Poke users can continue using the product as before; TechCrunch was told nothing would immediately change for Poke through the end of the year, and that Poke would use Cognition's SWE-1.7 model for some tasks next year. [1](https://cognition.com/blog/interaction) [2](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/why-cognition-bought-poke-ai-personality-is-becoming-a-competitive-advantage/)

## Unconfirmed or disputed

- Cognition's post did not state a price or name the founders' roles at Cognition.
- Some secondary outlets dated the announcement July 24; Cognition's post is dated 2026-07-23.