Instinct, an AI personal assistant startup, is currently in talks to raise $1 billion at a valuation of $10 billion, The Information reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to the news outlet, fresh capital would allow Instinct to relieve capacity constraints for its invite-only AI agent service. Its number of users has reportedly increased to more than 100,000.
For the new funding, Sequoia Capital and Benchmark have been in talks to lead financing, per the report.
The reported $10 billion figure would lift Instinct's valuation fourfold in less than a month from the $2.5 billion valuation set in its $250 million Series B in late August. Index Ventures and Benchmark co-led the round.
The San Francisco-based firm reportedly closed its Series A round earlier that same month, raising $75 million at an over-$500 million valuation, led by Kleiner Perkins. Before that, the company had backing from Conviction Partners and Greenoaks.
Users access the invite-only AI agent by text or phone call rather than a dedicated application, which then connects to email, calendars, messaging, and other accounts to complete daily tasks such as shopping or travel booking. The product remains in private beta stage.
"The interface is simple: there are no new interfaces," the firm's 23-year-old founder and CEO Noah Shinn wrote on X. "It's trained to use a phone and a computer in the same way that humans do. Instinct combines simplicity with extreme capability."