Viral AI startup Instinct raises $350M at $2.5B valuation

Instinct, an AI assistant startup founded just last year, is reporting a blockbuster funding round. According to TechCrunch, citing the Wall Street Journal, the company raised $250 million in a recent Series B round, bringing total funding to $350 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion.

The new round was co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark, the Journal reported. Instinct is operated by Spear Street Technology and led by founder and CEO Noah Shinn, who is 23 years old.

Instinct is an agent that the company says can efficiently organize your life: users connect it to their apps and devices and communicate with it via texts and calls.

Shinn showcased early use cases in a tweet — users have planned cross-country road trips, bought weekly groceries and concert tickets, cancelled hundreds of dollars of subscriptions, and one person is even planning a wedding with Instinct.

The product is still in private beta with a decidedly lo-fi website, but its buzz has climbed all summer, and the valuation has climbed with it.

The hype comes with controversy. TechCrunch previously reported that users have worried about the app's overly generous permission requirements and a terms of use that some find disturbingly invasive, putting privacy concerns at the center of the conversation.

A one-year-old startup has amassed enormous attention and money while also accumulating privacy scrutiny. Balancing explosive growth with user trust will be Instinct's biggest test in the next phase.