Photon raises $4.5M to replace apps with agents

AI startup Photon, which helps developers build agents over iMessage and WhatsApp, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding. The company, co-founded by Daniel Tian and Ryan Zhu, has signed up over 40,000 developers and grown revenue 10x in four months, with less than 3% churn. Photon offers a unified API, CLI, and observability suite supporting iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, email, and voice. The seed round was co-led by Gradient and A*, with participation from Vercel, HongShan, and others. Tian believes agents will eventually replace mobile apps entirely.