Photon Announces $4.5M Seed Round to Help Developers Build AI Agents for iMessage and WhatsApp
aiinsider ·
AI startup Photon has secured $4.5 million in seed funding, co-led by Gradient and A*, with additional participation from investors such as Vercel and HSG. The company aims to help developers build AI agents that operate across major messaging platforms including iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, and SMS. Since its inception, Photon has attracted over 40,000 developer sign-ups and experienced a tenfold revenue increase within four months. Operational metrics highlight strong retention with churn below 3% and a fivefold rise in messaging volume during the past month. Co-founders Daniel Tian and Ryan Zhu developed the platform after facing challenges in user discovery for their earlier student-built applications. Their solution provides a unified API and observability suite, boasting 99.95% uptime and compliance with SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA standards. Current customers include Corgi Insurance and Nous Research, which utilizes Photon to power its Hermes agent. CEO Daniel Tian anticipates future growth driven by the inevitable shift from traditional apps to autonomous agents.
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