AI assistant Instinct in talks to raise $1B at $10B valuation
What's the deal? Spear Street Technology, the startup behind personal AI assistant Instinct, is in talks to raise $1 billion at a valuation of about $10 billion, a person with knowledge of the deal said. Sequoia Capital and Benchmark have been in talks to lead the financing.
Why now? The talks come as Instinct — an invitation-only agent — hits limits on its compute capacity. Its user base has grown to more than 100,000, straining the service.
What's the endgame? Users text Instinct to carry out tasks, such as replying to messages or booking dinner reservations. The app has sometimes told users it is running at full capacity and that "responses may be slower" as people use it to negotiate bills and answer emails.
The valuation would be a steep jump from Instinct's last raise.
It has raised $350 million to date. Backers also include Sarah Guo's Conviction PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Neil Mehta's Greenoaks.
What could go wrong? The round hasn't been finalised, and terms and leads could change. Chief executive officer Noah Shinn didn't have a comment.
Revenue is also unclear. Shinn has said he doesn't want to charge users, suggesting the company could try advertising or other approaches instead.
The signal: The near-fourfold valuation jump in under a month reflects intense investor demand for consumer AI agents. Competition is building fast — Meta last week launched Muse, a free assistant that functions similarly to Instinct.
Read more: The Information
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