AI Agent Startup Instinct Raises $1B, Valuation Hits $10B
AI agent maker Instinct has raised a $1 billion Series C round just a month after its last raise, pushing its valuation to $10 billion, even as it faces fresh competition from Meta's new assistant Muse.
Instinct, the startup behind a viral AI assistant, has raised $1 billion in a Series C funding round led by investors including Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital and Coatue. The round values the company at $10 billion — just a month after a previous raise had valued it at $2.5 billion. The fundraising was first reported by The Information earlier this month and confirmed by Instinct in a press release on Monday.
Instinct launched its invite-only service in August 2026. Its AI agent can complete real-world tasks on behalf of users, including booking travel and restaurant reservations, making purchases, paying bills, canceling subscriptions, ordering groceries, and conducting research. To carry out tasks, the agent uses its own phone number and computer. The company recently added new features, including "concierge," which can make phone calls to book appointments at places without online booking, and a "trusted person network" that lets a user's agent coordinate plans directly with friends' agents.
Privacy concerns and rising competition
These capabilities require users to share significant amounts of personal information. Instinct's initial privacy policy drew criticism for being overly broad in what data it collected, and the company has since updated it. Meanwhile, Instinct now faces stiff competition from Meta's own AI assistant, Muse, which offers similar functionality plus deep integration with Meta's social platforms, such as monitoring Instagram DMs, Facebook Groups and Marketplace listings. Muse has climbed to the top of U.S. app stores and been downloaded millions of times. Instinct, by contrast, communicates with users via SMS and has no mobile app yet, and it has not disclosed user numbers or growth metrics. Founder Noah Shinn said the new funding will help bring Instinct to more people as the company continues developing its personal AI agent.
