Instinct

AI Agents · Consumer AI

Funding

AI agent startup Instinct closes $1B Series C at $10B valuation

Its valuation quadrupled in a single month, signaling investors are betting big on agents that act rather than just chat.

• Instinct closed a $1 billion Series C led by Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital and Coatue, valuing the AI agent startup at $10 billion.
• The San Francisco startup builds a personal AI agent that texts users via iMessage and WhatsApp and uses its own phone number and computer to complete tasks like booking travel, ordering groceries and canceling subscriptions.
• The round arrives just a month after a $350 million raise valued Instinct at $2.5 billion, meaning its valuation quadrupled in a matter of weeks.
• New features include Concierge, which places phone calls on a user's behalf, and a Trusted Person Network letting different users' agents coordinate plans directly.
• Instinct's initial privacy policy drew criticism for the scope of personal data it required to unlock these capabilities, prompting the company to revise it.
• Meta's rival assistant Muse, launched in September, has topped the U.S. App Store with over 900,000 downloads by tapping deep integration with Instagram and Facebook.
• The speed and size of the round show investors treating consumer AI agents that act on users' behalf, not just chat, as the next major platform battleground.