AI Assistant Startup Instinct Raises $350M at $2.5B Value
Instinct, an AI startup founded last year by 23-year-old Noah Shinn, has raised $250 million in a Series B funding round that values the company at $2.5 billion, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The new round brings Instinct’s total funding to $350 million.
The round was co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark, the Journal reported.
Instinct is developed by Spear Street Technology and positions itself as an AI agent that helps organize users’ daily lives. The assistant connects to a user’s apps and devices and can be reached via text messages and phone calls.
Shinn said on social media that early users have used Instinct to plan cross-country road trips, order weekly groceries, buy concert tickets and cancel subscriptions, adding that one user was even planning a wedding with the assistant’s help.
The product remains in private beta and has a minimal, lo-fi website, according to the Wall Street Journal. Despite its early stage, Instinct has drawn scrutiny online over privacy concerns, with some users flagging the broad permissions the app requests and language in its terms of use that they described as invasive.
The funding round underscores continued investor appetite for consumer-facing AI agents even amid unresolved questions about data privacy and permissions. Instinct’s rapid rise from founding to a multibillion-dollar valuation in roughly a year reflects the pace at which capital is flowing into buzzy AI startups this year.
Based on reporting by techcrunch.com.
