Viral AI agent Instinct raises $1B Series C at a $10B valuation

Despite its AI assistant’s viral adoption, Instinct is now facing fresh competition from Meta’s own AI assistant, Muse, which offers many similar features, plus a system that can deeply integrate with Meta’s social products. That means Muse can do much of what Instinct does, as well as tasks like monitoring and summarizing your Instagram DMs or Facebook Groups, keeping an eye on Marketplace listings, and more.

Such capabilities have sent Muse to the top of the U.S. app stores, where it has been downloaded millions of times. Instinct, which uses SMS and texting to communicate with its users, doesn’t have a mobile app yet. The startup has also not shared its user numbers or any growth metrics, but clearly its investors are seeing something they like.

Instinct declined to offer interviews with founder Noah Shinn alongside the fundraising news, but shared a statement attributed to him: “We’re building Instinct to be the best personal agent that can handle the deeply personal nuances of everyday life. This funding helps us bring Instinct to more people and continue building the future of personal AI. It’s an exciting, creative time, and we’re just getting started.”