Instinct, a startup founded just last year and helmed by a 23-year-old, managed to ride the wave of AI craze toward huge valuations over the summer.
The company, which offers an AI assistant that sparked enthusiasm among early users, told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that it had raised $250 million in a recent Series B funding round. This new round brings the company’s total funding to $350 million and values the startup at $2.5 billion.
The new funding round was co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark, the magazine reported.
Instinct, from Spear Street Technology and led by founder Noah Shinn, is an agent that the company claims can help you organize your life efficiently. Users can connect it to their apps and devices and communicate through texts and calls.
“I’m excited about everything our early users are doing with Instinct,” Shinn wrote in a tweet Wednesday. “They told us they planned cross-border road trips, bought weekly groceries and concert tickets, and canceled hundreds of dollars of subscriptions. Some are even planning weddings with Instinct.”
Rocking a decidedly lo-fi website, Instinct is currently in private beta, but has already caused some controversy due to privacy concerns. Online, users are concerned about the app’s overly permissive permissions and terms of use that make some users nervous due to its potentially intrusive nature.
