Instinct Raises $1 Billion and Reaches $10 Billion Valuation

Key Takeaways

1Instinct closes a Series C of $1 billion, valued at $10 billion

2No mobile app or user numbers published

3The privacy policy has been revised following concerns

4Muse from Meta competes with Instinct through social integrations and millions of downloads

Why it matters : Instinct attracts significant investors despite the lack of a mobile app and public data on its adoption, in a context of increased competition and heightened privacy scrutiny.

The AI assistant Instinct closes a $1 billion Series C funding round, boosting its valuation to $10 billion. The startup, which lacks a mobile app and has not published adoption figures, faces questions about privacy and the rise of Muse, Meta's assistant.

No app, no figures, and a revamped privacy policy

Instinct communicates with its users via SMS and text messages, with no mobile app available to date. The company has not released figures regarding its user base or growth. Some users express concerns about the amount of personal information required to access the agent's features. The initial version of Instinct's privacy policy raised concerns due to its intrusive nature, but this policy has since been revised.

Series C confirmed on Monday, valuation raised to $10 billion

Instinct confirmed on Monday, via a press release, the completion of a Series C funding round. This round amounts to $1 billion and raises the company's valuation to $10 billion, with participation from investors such as Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue. A month earlier, Instinct had announced a funding round that valued it at $2.5 billion. Funding efforts had been reported earlier this month. On the occasion of this announcement, the company declined to grant interviews with its founder Noah Shinn.

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How the agent works and new features deployed

To perform tasks, Instinct uses its own phone number and computer. The agent targets consumer use cases, ranging from answering questions and engaging in conversation to completing tasks such as booking travel or restaurants, making purchases, paying bills, canceling subscriptions, conducting research, or ordering groceries. Instinct recently added a concierge feature capable of making calls to schedule appointments at places without online reservations, as well as a network of trusted individuals allowing a user's agent to coordinate plans with their friends. The service was launched in August 2026 by invitation only.

Meta's Muse climbs to the top of the stores with social integrations

Instinct faces competition from Muse, Meta's AI assistant, which offers similar features and deep integration with Meta's social products. Muse can monitor and summarize Instagram direct messages or Facebook groups, and track announcements on Marketplace. Muse has risen to the top of the American app stores, with millions of downloads. For his part, Noah Shinn claims to want to build the best personal agent to manage the personal aspects of daily life, believes this funding will help raise awareness of Instinct among a larger audience, and describes the period as exciting and creative.