Instinct AI assistant raises $1 billion, now valued at $10 billion

Instinct announced on Monday that it has raised a fresh $1 billion in a Series C financing. The round was led by Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital and Coatue, and values the startup at $10 billion. The money will fund more features, a mobile app and expansion into new markets. Instinct’s core product is a conversational AI that can book travel, order groceries, pay bills and even make phone calls on the user’s behalf.

How we got here

Instinct launched its invite‑only service in August 2026. Within a month of launch it raised a Series B round that put the company at a $2.5 billion valuation, according to The Information. The new funding comes just a month after that round, showing how quickly investors are backing consumer‑focused AI agents. The startup’s “concierge” feature, released last week, lets the AI use its own phone number to call restaurants or doctors that don’t offer online booking. Another recent addition, the “trusted person network,” lets a user’s AI coordinate plans with the agents of friends and family. The company does not yet have a mobile app; all interactions happen via SMS and web chat.

What happens next

Instinct plans to launch a dedicated iOS and Android app later this year, aiming to make the service feel more like a traditional assistant. The funding will also support hiring more engineers to improve natural‑language understanding and to expand the “trusted person network.” At the same time, the startup faces fresh competition from Meta’s new AI assistant, Muse, which is already topping U.S. app‑store charts. Muse can tap into Instagram DMs, Facebook Groups and Marketplace listings, giving it a broader reach across Meta’s ecosystem. Privacy advocates have flagged Instinct’s early privacy policy as overly broad; the company says it has revised the policy after user feedback. The startup has not disclosed how many users it has, but the $10 billion valuation suggests investors expect rapid growth.