AI Agent Startup Instinct Raises $1B Series C, Valued at $10B One Month After $2.5B Valuation
Instinct’s valuation quadrupled from $2.5B to $10B in one month after its August 2026 invite-only launch. The SMS-based agent handles bookings, purchases, bills and research, with backing from Sequoia, Benchmark and Coatue.
AI assistant startup Instinct has raised $1 billion in a Series C round, pushing its valuation to $10 billion — a dramatic jump from the $2.5 billion valuation it carried just one month earlier. The round, confirmed by the company on Monday, September 28, 2026, was led by investors including Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue.
Instinct launched its invite-only service in August 2026. The fundraise follows an earlier report by The Information and marks a rapid funding trajectory for a startup still in its early stages. Founder Noah Shinn, who declined to be interviewed alongside the announcement, said in a statement: “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.”
The company operates as a consumer AI agent — one that goes beyond answering questions to completing tasks on users’ behalf. These include booking travel and restaurant reservations, making purchases, paying bills, canceling subscriptions, ordering groceries, and conducting research. Instinct uses its own phone number and computer to carry out these tasks, and communicates with users via SMS rather than a mobile app. Recent feature additions include a “concierge” service that makes phone calls on users’ behalf and a “trusted person network” that allows different users’ agents to coordinate with one another.
The rapid growth comes with complications. Some users have raised concerns about the volume of personal information required to use the service. Instinct’s original privacy policy drew criticism for its scope, though the company has since updated it. The startup has also not disclosed user numbers or growth metrics.
Instinct also faces growing competition from Meta’s AI assistant, Muse, which offers similar task-completion features along with deep integration into Meta’s social platforms — including Instagram, Facebook Groups, and Marketplace. Muse has reached the top of U.S. app store charts and has been downloaded millions of times.