Instinct raises $1B Series C at $10B valuation

Instinct said Monday it raised a $1 billion Series C at a $10 billion valuation from investors including Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital and Coatue, TechCrunch reported. The round comes about a month after a fundraise that valued the personal AI agent startup at about $2.5 billion, TechCrunch said, and Instinct confirmed the Series C in a Monday press release.

A Reuters report carried by CNA likewise said Instinct announced a $1 billion raise that lifted its valuation to $10 billion, with Sequoia, Benchmark and Coatue among the investors. The same Reuters wire noted founder Noah Shinn told the Wall Street Journal last month that Instinct had raised $250 million at a $2.5 billion valuation.

Instinct launched its invite-only personal agent in August 2026. When asked to perform a task, the product uses its own phone number and computer and communicates with users over SMS and texting; it does not yet have a mobile app, TechCrunch said. Recent additions include a concierge mode that can place phone calls for appointments and a trusted-person network that lets one user’s agent coordinate plans with friends’ agents.

Those capabilities require deep personal access. TechCrunch said Instinct’s initial privacy policy drew overreach concerns and has since been updated. The Reuters wire via CNA said Instinct also pointed Monday to privacy features including isolated sandboxes and short-lived local credentials, plus detection aimed at catching subtle hallucinations. TechCrunch also noted fresh competition from Meta’s Muse assistant, which offers overlapping agent features plus deeper hooks into Meta’s social products. SiliconANGLE separately corroborated the $1 billion Series C at a $10 billion valuation and the Sequoia, Benchmark and Coatue participation.

Instinct declined interviews with Shinn alongside the raise, but shared a statement attributed to him via TechCrunch: “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.”

TechCrunch and the Reuters wire did not name a sole lead investor for the Series C, and Instinct has not published user counts. The $10 billion mark, coming weeks after a roughly $2.5 billion valuation, is the clearest signal yet of how hard venture capital is chasing consumer agents that do real-world tasks, not just chat.

Instinct raises $1B Series C at $10B valuation

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