Text.ai
YC X25San 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.
Investors Β· 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Text.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.
βΈFull 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 reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Competitors Β· 8
by search overlapCompanies competing with Text.ai for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline Β· 3
launches, deals, and filingsText.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.
Alfi includes built-in Yelp restaurant booking, described by the company as an exclusive partnership, allowing groups to reserve directly within the chat.
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.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
βΈResearch sources Β· 8
primary sources listed
- Text.aitext.ai Β· web
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.







