Instinct, the AI startup whose personal assistant books travel, orders groceries and pays bills on its own, has raised $1 billion in a Series C funding round that values the company at $10 billion, it announced on Monday, September 28, 2026.
The round drew investments from Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital and Coatue, Reuters reported. The new valuation is roughly four times the $2.5 billion the company commanded just a month earlier, when founder Noah Shinn told the Wall Street Journal it had raised $250 million in its Series B.
From chatbot frenzy to agentic AI
Instinct was founded in 2025 by Shinn, who previously worked at Sierra, Bret Taylor's AI customer-service startup. It launched its invite-only service in August 2026, offering an AI agent that acts autonomously through its own phone number and computer rather than answering questions in a chat window.
The company has since added a "concierge" feature that places phone calls on users' behalf and a "trusted person network" that lets one user's agent coordinate with the agents of friends. In its announcement, the firm said it was improving privacy protections, including isolated sandboxes and short-lived local credentials, after its original privacy policy drew user scrutiny.
The raise comes as competition in consumer AI assistants intensifies. TechCrunch noted that Meta's rival assistant Muse has climbed to the top of the US app stores, underscoring how quickly the race is moving from chatbots to agents that take real-world actions.
Sources:
Reuters via WNCY — AI agent firm Instinct raises $1 billion in latest funding round
TechCrunch — Viral AI agent Instinct raises $1B Series C at a $10B valuation
The round drew investments from Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital and Coatue, Reuters reported. The new valuation is roughly four times the $2.5 billion the company commanded just a month earlier, when founder Noah Shinn told the Wall Street Journal it had raised $250 million in its Series B.
From chatbot frenzy to agentic AI
Instinct was founded in 2025 by Shinn, who previously worked at Sierra, Bret Taylor's AI customer-service startup. It launched its invite-only service in August 2026, offering an AI agent that acts autonomously through its own phone number and computer rather than answering questions in a chat window.
The company has since added a "concierge" feature that places phone calls on users' behalf and a "trusted person network" that lets one user's agent coordinate with the agents of friends. In its announcement, the firm said it was improving privacy protections, including isolated sandboxes and short-lived local credentials, after its original privacy policy drew user scrutiny.
The raise comes as competition in consumer AI assistants intensifies. TechCrunch noted that Meta's rival assistant Muse has climbed to the top of the US app stores, underscoring how quickly the race is moving from chatbots to agents that take real-world actions.
Sources:
Reuters via WNCY — AI agent firm Instinct raises $1 billion in latest funding round
TechCrunch — Viral AI agent Instinct raises $1B Series C at a $10B valuation
