Chert

Four co-founders just launched Chert—and they're bucking the "AI for everything" trend by zeroing in exclusively on iMessage. While every other AI agent startup chases website chat and Slack integrations, Chert lets businesses deploy AI agents that text customers directly through Apple's Messages app, which—fair—is kind of a wild narrow-focus gamble in a market drowning in generic assistants. No public numbers yet, but the iMessage-only bet might just be the sleeper hit founders sleeping on SMS commerce didn't see coming.