Jest, the texting-native app distribution platform, reached a $1 million gross billing run-rate three months after enabling in-app purchases on its platform, according to the company's State of Jest Q3 report.

The run-rate milestone arrives alongside the launch of Fund II, a second developer-funding programme that will commit up to $1 million to mobile games and entertainment apps distributed over SMS.

"AI made building software easy. Distributing it is the real challenge," Jest CEO and co-founder Deyan Vitanov said. "Traditional app stores are completely saturated. We built Jest to unlock a new distribution channel based on texting and our rapid growth proves how badly developers need an alternative to legacy stores."

What do the Q3 platform metrics show?

The report cites a 15% payer conversion rate among active US users, a figure Jest describes as nearly five times standard mobile app benchmarks. Daily time spent on Jest tripled from Q2 to an average of 24 minutes per user.

Usage volume grew 400% quarter-over-quarter, climbing from 1 million to more than 4 million total apps and games played across the platform.

How does Fund II work?

Fund II divides its up-to-$1 million pool across three funding stages:

• Explore — early validation and prototypes
• Scale — promising titles approaching commercial traction
• Flagship — established or breakout games

Jest's first fund drew more than 200 applications and Jest accepted fewer than 10%, the company said. That first cohort helped grow the platform's active catalogue from 30 to 60 titles.

What terms does Jest offer funded developers?

Funded developers retain up to 90% of net revenue. Jest absorbs messaging fees and supplies payments infrastructure, push notifications, authentication and compliance tooling on top of its SMS distribution layer.

Developers integrate with Jest's payments and notification stack rather than submit binaries to incumbent storefronts, removing app-store review from the distribution pipeline.

What does the SMS-distribution model change for studios?

The platform routes users to apps and games through SMS links rather than app-store search. Discovery therefore depends on messaging reach and the catalogue's surface area rather than store rankings and editorial featuring.

The active catalogue currently sits at 60 titles. Jest frames that small surface area as an advantage: every title receives more proportional shelf space on a texting-native feed than on legacy stores carrying millions of listings. The trade-off is reach — Jest must source its own audience via SMS rather than rely on store-level discovery infrastructure.

What's worth watching next?

The Q4 report will show whether the 15% payer conversion rate holds as the catalogue expands, or whether paying users concentrate in a narrower slice of the 4 million-plus apps-and-games-played volume. Fund II's accepted-project list and per-stage dollar commitments will give the first read on whether SMS-native distribution can recruit breakout studios or stay a long-tail channel.