A new AI assistant is gaining attention among Silicon Valley's early adopters, just months after OpenClaw became a viral hit across the technology industry. Called Instinct, the young startup began testing its product in private beta in February and has quickly attracted venture capital interest, with some investors becoming early users themselves.
Its popularity surged earlier this month as users shared experiences of an AI assistant that appeared capable of carrying out tasks with relatively little friction. Instinct is now raising a $250 million (£187.5 million) Series B at a $2.5 billion (£1.875 billion) valuation, in a round co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark.
Founder Noah Shinn said the company has quietly raised $350 million (£262.5 million) since being founded in 2025. The funding reflects the current rush to build AI assistants capable of handling everyday tasks for users.
What Instinct Can Do
Users can call or text Instinct and ask the AI assistant to handle tasks such as responding to emails, managing calendars, booking a ride to the airport and arranging a handyman.
Some users have also reported using the service to shop for homeowners insurance and order custom merchandise for a wedding. Shinn described the platform as a way to bring many everyday tasks into one place.
'We saw someone buy a house on the platform. A lot of our younger users are using it to find apartment rentals,' Shinn told the WSJ. 'It's a one-stop shop to do almost everything.'
I’m Noah, the founder of Instinct.
— Noah Shinn (@noahrshinn) August 26, 2026
Instinct is a personal agent that we’ve been building for the past few months. The interface is simple: there are no new interfaces. You can text or call it. It's trained to use a phone and a computer in the same way that humans do. Instinct…
Shinn said Instinct is 'almost like having access to a super-human operator'. The startup comes from Spear Street Technology, led by Shinn, who was an early employee at Sierra, the customer service AI company founded by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor.
Shinn, 23, dropped out of Northeastern University in 2023. Since Instinct was founded in 2025, the company has raised $350 million (£262.5 million), including its latest funding round, from investors including Conviction Partners and Greenoaks.
Instinct is entering a market that already includes AI tools designed to take on personal tasks. It competes with ChatGPT Work and xAI's Grok Bot, which are also becoming more capable of carrying out tasks for users.
Security Concerns and the AI Bet
Instinct's rapid rise has also brought questions about security and privacy. To get the most from the assistant, users need to provide access to sensitive personal data. The company's terms also allow it to train its AI models using user data.
Shinn said Instinct is moving quickly to address these concerns and is taking them seriously. He said the company has made product changes designed to stop the agent from taking certain actions that users of earlier versions may have encountered.
'We've made many product improvements that enable us to prevent the agent from taking certain actions that maybe some users of our early group who used an earlier version of the product might have experienced,' he said.
The funding comes as venture capitalists continue putting billions into AI assistants intended to automate everyday activities. Those applications range from writing and debugging software to coordinating family schedules and picking a March Madness bracket.
For Instinct, the latest funding round puts the young company at a $2.5 billion (£1.875 billion) valuation only months after its private beta began. Its growing user interest and high-profile venture backing have made it one of the latest AI assistants to attract attention in Silicon Valley.
