AI assistant startup Instinct has raised $1 billion in a Series C funding round, bringing the company's valuation to $10 billion. The round included investments from Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue. This follows a previous fundraise that valued the company at $2.5 billion only one month ago.
Launched as an invite-only service in August 2026, Instinct provides a consumer AI agent capable of performing practical tasks such as booking travel, making restaurant reservations, making purchases, and paying bills. The agent operates by using its own phone number and computer to interact with the world, mimicking human behavior. Recent features include a "concierge" function for making phone calls to handle appointments and a "trusted person network" for coordinating plans between different users' agents.
Despite its rapid growth, Instinct faces challenges including privacy concerns regarding the personal information required for its services and growing competition from Meta's Muse AI assistant. While Instinct currently communicates with users via SMS and text, it has not yet released a dedicated mobile app.
Sources
- Viral AI agent Instinct raises $1B Series C at a $10B valuation （TechCrunch AI, 2026-09-28）
- Instinct