Instinct raises $350M at $2.5B valuation
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- Instinct raised $250M in a Series B, bringing total funding to $350M and a $2.5B valuation in under a year, per the Wall Street Journal
- Index Ventures and Benchmark co-led the round
- Instinct is offered by Spear Street Technology, founded by 23-year-old Noah Shinn, and operates as an AI agent that connects to users' apps and devices, communicating via texts and calls
- Shinn said early users have planned cross-country road trips, bought groceries and concert tickets, canceled subscriptions, and planned a wedding using the assistant
- Instinct remains in private beta with a lo-fi website, yet has already drawn privacy controversy over its permission requirements and terms of use
Why it matters: Benchmark and Index Ventures just placed a $2.5B bet on a year-old, still-private-beta startup whose app has already drawn privacy complaints — the kind of price top-tier VCs are willing to pay for early AI agent plays right now.
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