Instinct, an AI assistant startup, has raised $1 billion in a Series C round, bringing its valuation to $10 billion – just a month after an earlier fundraising round valued the company at $2.5 billion.
The funding comes from notable investors like Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue. Instinct launched its invite-only service in August 2026. Its AI agents do more than just answer questions; they actively handle various tasks. These include booking travel, making restaurant reservations, completing purchases, paying bills, canceling subscriptions, conducting research, and ordering groceries.
To manage these tasks, Instinct uses its own phone number and computer. Features like a “concierge” allow AI agents to make phone calls on behalf of users, assisting with appointments at places without online booking. The “trusted person network” feature also enables one user’s AI agent to coordinate plans with friends’ agents, enhancing collaborative functionality.
Despite this rapid expansion, privacy concerns have emerged among users. Many are questioning how much personal information they need to provide to access these services. The initial version of Instinct’s privacy policy raised concerns due to its overreach, and the company has since updated it.
As Instinct continues to grow, it now faces strong competition from Meta’s AI assistant, Muse. Muse offers similar functionalities and integrates deeply with Meta’s social platforms, allowing it to monitor and summarize Instagram DMs, Facebook Groups, and track Marketplace listings. These features have propelled Muse to the top of U.S. app stores, where it has been downloaded millions of times.
Unlike Muse, which has a dedicated mobile app, Instinct currently relies on SMS and texting for user communication and has not yet released a mobile application. The startup has also not disclosed its user numbers or growth metrics.
Instinct declined to offer interviews with founder Noah Shinn alongside the fundraising news, but shared a statement attributed to him: “We’re building Instinct to be the best personal agent that can handle the deeply personal nuances of everyday life. This funding helps us bring Instinct to more people and continue building the future of personal AI. It’s an exciting, creative time, and we’re just getting started.”
