Instinct, an AI assistant startup run by 23-year-old founder Noah Shinn, is raising a $250 million Series B at a $2.5 billion valuation, Shinn told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Index Ventures and Benchmark are co-leading the round, which brings Instinct's total funding to $350 million.
The startup is operated by Spear Street Technology, a San Francisco company Shinn founded in 2025 after leaving Sierra, the customer service AI company.
The new round caps a rapid fundraising run: the company's valuation has climbed from $50 million to $2.5 billion in a matter of months, according to Forbes.
One early user reported that the app continued storing copies of her emails after she disconnected it from her Google account.
Instinct, an AI assistant startup run by 23-year-old founder Noah Shinn, is raising a $250 million Series B at a $2.5 billion valuation, Shinn told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Index Ventures and Benchmark are co-leading the round, which brings Instinct's total funding to $350 million.
The startup is operated by Spear Street Technology, a San Francisco company Shinn founded in 2025 after leaving Sierra, the customer service AI company. The new round caps a rapid fundraising run: the company's valuation has climbed from $50 million to $2.5 billion in a matter of months, according to Forbes. Earlier backers include Conviction Partners and Greenoaks.
Instinct allows users to reach an AI bot by phone or text message and hand off tasks such as drafting email replies, keeping calendars in order, arranging travel, and coordinating home services. Users link the product to messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and iMessage as well as their email, and the AI can carry out real-world transactions on their behalf. Shinn described the product as "a one-stop shop to do almost everything," telling the Journal that some users have used it to buy homes and find apartment rentals. The app is in private beta and not available to the public.
Early users have reported mixed experiences. Some venture capitalists have praised the product's ability to complete tasks, from restaurant reservations to event registrations. Others have encountered problems — according to Forbes, one user said the app booked a restaurant table with a $200 cancellation fee after being asked only to find available reservations.
Privacy concerns have also surfaced. According to TechCrunch, Instinct's terms of use give the company broad rights to retain user data, which the company could draw on when training its AI models. One early user reported that the app continued storing copies of her emails after she disconnected it from her Google account. Shinn said the company is moving quickly to address those concerns, noting that updates to the product have reduced the risk of the AI acting outside what users intended.
"The fundraising is a reflection of early user excitement around the potential of proactive, always-on, extremely capable assistant that really feels like it has access to all your context and is always trying to help," Shinn said in a statement.
The app is free at the moment, but Forbes reported that potential business models under consideration include a paid subscription tier or an advertising approach that would draw on the app's visibility into users' communications and financial activity.
