Fundraising Fox

Text.ai

YC X25

San Francisco, US Β· Founded 2024 Β· 4 employees Β· Hiring Β· 2 known investors

Alfi is an AI assistant that lives within group chats across messaging platforms (iOS, Android, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram) to organize plans, generate creative content, and suggest activities for friend groups. The service learns group preferences and handles logistics like booking reservations and coordinating schedules.

Also known as TextAI Β· Alfi Β· Text AI Β· text.ai

Founders & leadershipΒ· Y Combinator alumni (X25)

Text.ai was founded in 2024 by Rushi Shah, Paras Maniar, and Prahar Patel.

RSRushi Shah
Rushi Shahin𝕏Cofounder & CEORushi Shah previously worked at Tesla and NASA, and studied computer science and business at Cal Poly Pomona. He is the co-founder and CEO of Text.ai.
PMParas Maniar
Paras Maniarin𝕏Co-FounderParas Maniar is a cofounder of Text.ai with prior experience at JPMorgan, McKinsey, and Gannett/USA Today. He holds a JD and MBA from Northwestern University and a BA from UC Berkeley.
PPPrahar Patel
Prahar Patelin𝕏CTO & Co-FounderPrahar Patel is CTO at Text.ai with prior engineering leadership experience at Walmart, Eventbrite, OpenTable, and Amazon.

Investors Β· 2

Company profile

researched Aug 2026

Text.ai is a San Francisco consumer AI company building Alfi, an assistant designed to operate inside group conversations rather than as a one-to-one chatbot. The company's original product was an AI that lived inside existing messaging channels β€” SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp and Telegram β€” and the team states it drew on more than 10 million messages exchanged across 150+ countries in its first few months. That usage led to a pivot toward a dedicated messaging application: Alfi, described in the company's Y Combinator launch as live on iOS and Android and available in 10+ languages.

Alfi's stated feature set includes in-chat restaurant booking with Yelp integration, collaborative ("multiplayer") image generation and editing, a shared social calendar for upcoming plans, group reminders, per-group memory of preferences and habits, a "Group Wrapped" recap of chat activity and inside jokes, customizable assistant behavior per chat, and multilingual conversation handling. A solo (one-to-one) mode is also offered alongside group chats. The company describes a proprietary framework that determines when the assistant should respond and when it should stay silent, without requiring @mentions or slash commands.

Text.ai participated in Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch and is categorized there under artificial intelligence, consumer, social and social network. Its public site states support from Y Combinator and SV Angel. Marketing figures on the site are internally inconsistent (variously citing 500,000 people, "thousands of users," and 10M, 20M and 60M+ messages), so quantitative traction claims should be treated as unverified.

Business model

Consumer messaging product distributed as a free-to-try assistant inside group chats and, more recently, as a standalone mobile app; no pricing, subscription or monetization mechanism is disclosed in the available sources.

Traction

Self-reported figures: 10M+ messages across 150+ countries and tens of thousands of users on the original messaging-platform product; the website separately cites "trusted by over 500,000 people," "thousands of users," 20M+ and 60M+ messages exchanged, and 100,000+ images created and edited "in just weeks." These numbers conflict across placements on the same site and are not independently verified.

Latest developments

Launch of Alfi as a standalone chat app on iOS and Android in 10+ languages, with a Yelp-powered in-chat reservation feature, multiplayer image generation, a shared social calendar, Group Wrapped and per-chat customization.

β–ΈFull profile β€” market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies

Market position

Positioned as a group-oriented alternative to individual AI chatbots, on the thesis that Gen Z is shifting away from broadcast social media toward private group chats, which the company calls "the real social network." Sources do not name direct competitors or provide third-party market share or ranking data.

The company claims a proprietary framework that lets the assistant infer conversational context and group dynamics to decide when to speak, eliminating explicit invocation via @mentions or commands, and claims first-of-its-kind multiplayer image generation and an exclusive Yelp partnership for in-chat restaurant reservations. These claims are self-reported.

Technology

An AI layer that integrates with messaging platforms and a native app, combining per-group memory and personalization, multilingual conversation handling, image generation and editing, calendar and reminder functions, and a Yelp reservation integration. The company describes a proprietary context/group-dynamics framework governing when the assistant responds.

Go-to-market

Distribution through existing messaging platforms (SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram) plus direct app downloads on iOS and Android; visibility via the Y Combinator company directory and a public launch post, with testimonial-based marketing on the company website.

Consumer friend groups, families, couples, coworkers and communities that coordinate through group chats; the company specifically frames Gen Z group-chat users as the core audience.

Geography

Headquartered in San Francisco; the product is reported to have been used across 150+ countries and supports 10+ languages.

History

The company first shipped an AI assistant that operated within existing messaging channels (SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram), reporting tens of thousands of users and 10M+ messages across 150+ countries within a few months. It participated in Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch. Based on that usage, the team concluded users wanted a social, personality-driven companion rather than a question-answering bot, and rebuilt the product as Alfi, a standalone chat app launched on iOS and Android in 10+ languages.

Risks & controversies

Traction metrics published on the company's own website are mutually inconsistent (500,000 people vs. "thousands of users"; 10M vs. 20M vs. 60M+ messages), and no funding amounts, revenue or third-party validation are disclosed in the available sources.

Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources β€” announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.

Key figures

latest reported
Countries with usersJan 2025150
HeadcountAug 20268
Images created and editedJan 2025100,000 images
Languages supportedJan 202510 languages
Messages exchanged with Alfi (website claim)Jan 202520,000,000 messages
Messages processed (original messaging product)Jan 202510,000,000 messages
Users (website claim)Jan 2025500,000 people

Company-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β€” not independently audited.

Competitors Β· 8

by search overlap
Heymarket22 shared keywordsHeymarket provides a business messaging platform that unifies SMS, email, and messaging apps into shared team inboxes, with CRM integrations and AI agents that automate replies, scheduling, and follow-ups. It serves business teams across customer service, sales, marketing, operations, and recruiting use cases.
Quillbot19 shared keywordsQuillBot provides an AI-powered workspace with tools for writing, paraphrasing, design, and visual generation, letting users brainstorm, research, and produce documents and presentations. It serves writers, students, educators, and professionals for tasks such as content creation, resumes, briefs, and reports.
Zapier16 shared keywordsZapier provides a platform for connecting AI models and agents to workflows and business applications, enabling teams to automate tasks across over 9,000 apps without coding. The platform serves enterprises, operations teams, and businesses of all sizes looking to deploy AI-driven automation for lead capture, customer support, employee onboarding, and other business processes.
Grammarly14 shared keywordsGrammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that helps users write with clarity and confidence across over 1 million apps and websites. The platform serves professionals, students, and teams through free and premium versions, and uses natural language processing to refine tone, suggest rewrites, and improve communication effectiveness.
Textcortex13 shared keywordsTextCortex provides a platform for building and deploying custom AI agents that handle text-based work such as drafting documents, summarizing material, and generating content. The system connects to company knowledge sources and existing tools, and is sold to enterprises with security and deployment-scale requirements.
Writesonic13 shared keywordsWritesonic is a platform for growth teams to monitor brand visibility across AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini) and take automated action through content creation, citation outreach, and technical fixes to improve AI search visibility and pipeline impact.
SEMrush12 shared keywordsSemrush provides competitive intelligence, SEO, keyword research, and content generation tools for growth marketers and small teams to improve visibility and optimize their acquisition funnel across Google and AI search.
ChatGPT10 shared keywordsChatGPT is an AI assistant that generates text responses, creates images, and processes uploaded files based on user prompts and saved chat history.

Companies competing with Text.ai for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.

Timeline Β· 3

launches, deals, and filings
Jan 2025
Participated in Y Combinator Spring 2025 batch

Text.ai is listed in the Y Combinator company directory as part of the Spring 2025 batch, with status Active and tags for artificial intelligence, consumer, social and social network.

source β†—

Jan 2025
Yelp integration for in-chat restaurant reservations

Alfi includes built-in Yelp restaurant booking, described by the company as an exclusive partnership, allowing groups to reserve directly within the chat.

source β†—

Jan 2025
Launch of Alfi chat app on iOS and Android

Text.ai launched Alfi, a standalone group chat app with an AI assistant, live on iOS and Android and available in 10+ languages. Features include Yelp-powered restaurant booking, multiplayer image generation, a shared social calendar, Group Wrapped, reminders and memory, and per-chat customization.

source β†—

Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.

In the news

β–ΈResearch sources Β· 8

primary sources listed

8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.

Frequently asked questions

What does Text.ai do?
Text.ai builds Alfi, an AI assistant with "social skills" that joins group chats to plan, remember and create with friends.
Who founded Text.ai?
Text.ai was founded by Rushi Shah, Paras Maniar, Prahar Patel in 2024.
Who are Text.ai's investors?
Text.ai's investors include Y Combinator, SV Angel.
Where is Text.ai headquartered?
Text.ai is headquartered in San Francisco, US.