AI startup Photon is so confident that messaging-based agents will replace mobile apps that it held a real funeral in a church for mobile apps, complete with speeches.
Photon helps developers build agents that work over iMessage and WhatsApp; the company has now raised $4.5 million in seed funding to develop its product.
Its current clients span several verticals, from an insurance carrier called Corgi to the social-introduction service Boardy, a Gen Z -focused dating app and a sports betting assistant.
The round was led by Local Globe, known for early agent infrastructure investments, with participation from Firat Ileri and Burak Demiroğlu .
Founded just in March 2025, the firm was started by co-founders Tian Ryan Zhu and Max Bertfield, who argue messaging is the most natural distribution channel for consumer agents.
According to analysis by Theory Ventures, users prefer interacting with agents inside messaging channels they already use rather than downloading yet another app.
Crunchbase data shows seed funding for messaging-based AI agent infrastructure rose 160 percent in 2025 compared with the prior year.
Reuters' tech commentary notes that avoiding app store commissions makes messaging agents more attractive for developers.
AI commentary
"Declaring the end of the mobile app economy is a bold move, but Photon's approach to building agents over messaging channels aligns with real user behavior."
AI assessment
The strongest counter-view: Apple and Google's store ecosystems still generate billions of downloads, so messaging agents reaching that scale is uncertain.
However, Photon's customer list shows messaging agents are being adopted quickly in niche verticals like insurance, dating, and sports betting.
Because the founders have their own announcement channel, independent verification of figures is limited, though the round and customer names are verifiable.
Practical takeaway: developers should watch messaging APIs closely; channel-based distribution will overtake store approval processes.
Sources
4 links; no other published story cites them. Stories sharing a link do not confirm each other; a source's origin is not inferred from how often it is cited.
photon · ai agents · messaging · seed funding · startup