Viral AI agent Instinct raises $1B Series C at a $10B valuation

Instinct, the startup behind the fast-growing AI assistant of the same name, has raised $1 billion in a Series C round that values the company at $10 billion. Investors in the round include Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital and Coatue.

Two rounds in one month

In August, only a month earlier, Instinct announced a fundraise that valued it at $2.5 billion and brought in $350 million. The new round quadruples that valuation. News of the fundraising was first reported earlier this month by The Information, and the company confirmed in a press release on Monday that it was a Series C, a quick growth round for a startup that launched its invite-only service in August 2026.

The speed of the two fundraises reflects the enthusiasm around a new class of consumer AI agents, which do not just answer questions and hold conversations but actually get things done: booking travel and restaurant reservations, making purchases, paying bills, canceling subscriptions, running tedious research or ordering groceries.

What Instinct can do

When asked to perform a task, Instinct uses its own phone number and computer. The company recently rolled out a "concierge" that can make phone calls for the user, for example to arrange appointments at places that do not offer online booking, along with a "trusted person network" that lets one person's agent coordinate plans with their friends' agents.

Privacy questions and new competition

Those capabilities come at a cost. Some users are questioning how much personal information they have to disclose to an AI agent to gain access to them, and Instinct's initial privacy policy drew criticism for its overreach. The policy has since been updated.

Instinct also faces fresh competition from Meta's own AI assistant, Muse, which offers many similar features and integrates deeply with Meta's social products. Muse can monitor and summarize Instagram DMs or Facebook Groups and keep an eye on Marketplace listings, which has sent it to the top of the U.S. app stores with millions of downloads. Instinct, which communicates with users over SMS, does not have a mobile app yet and has not shared 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."