Instinct
Unicorn Β· $2.5BSan Francisco, US Β· Founded 2026 Β· 3 known investors
Instinct is an AI personal assistant that connects to a user's email, messaging, screen, audio, location, and devices, and operates a phone and computer the way a human would to handle everyday tasks. It can be reached by text or call and proactively follows up on threads, books services like rides or handymen, and manages personal to-dos.
Also known as Spear Street Technology Β· Instinct AI
Founders & leadership
Instinct was founded in 2026 by Noah Shinn and Ashwin Datta.
Investors Β· 3
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Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$75M disclosed across 1 round Β· 2026
- $75MSeries AAug 2026
Kleiner Perkins (lead)
Source β
Source: company announcements and press reports β follow each round's link for the claim.
Valuation Β· disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed β follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Instinct is an AI personal assistant that drives a phone and a computer the way a person would: you text or call it, and it books flights and restaurant reservations, arranges rides, clears your inbox and follows up on threads you dropped. Built by a small San Francisco team led by former Sierra researcher Noah Shinn and operated by Spear Street Technology, it was still invite-only in August 2026 when investors bid its valuation from roughly $100 million to more than $2.5 billion in a matter of weeks.
Founding story
Noah Shinn registered Spear Street Technology in California in April 2026 after leaving Sierra, where he was an early research scientist and built the Ο-bench agent benchmark. Instinct is the small team's first product; Shinn's earlier academic work on Reflexion β teaching language agents to critique and retry their own attempts β is the direct research lineage behind an assistant meant to chase loose ends without being asked.
Traction
Invite-only through August 2026, distributed largely through venture-capital circles while the team scaled up compute. Testers including investors and operators described it publicly as the most exciting launch since OpenClaw.
Latest developments
Reported on 26 August 2026 to be raising at least $200 million at a valuation above $2.5 billion, with Benchmark and Index Ventures in talks to lead β a fivefold step-up from the roughly $500 million valuation set weeks earlier.
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, ownership, risks & controversies
Market position
Where the open-source assistant OpenClaw demanded a developer to set up and run, Instinct packages the same always-on autonomy as a consumer service β the comparison early testers reached for was "OpenClaw for normal people".
Technology
Instinct orchestrates off-the-shelf frontier models with its own fine-tuning and tool use rather than training a model from scratch, and deliberately ships no new interface: it connects to email, messaging, calendar, screen, audio and location, and operates a phone and a computer the way a person does. Users reach it over SMS, a phone call or WhatsApp.
Ownership
Private; venture-backed.
Risks & controversies
Between 21 and 24 August 2026 testers circulated Instinct's terms of service, which claim a perpetual and irrevocable licence to store, modify and train on user material, allow the assistant to receive screen captures, cursor movements and keyboard input, and permit it to enter binding agreements on a user's behalf. Individual testers reported that Instinct would not delete Gmail records on request (later fixed with a delete tool), kept email in plain text after access was disconnected, sent an email without confirmation, and could be phished through a message planted in a connected inbox. The company did not respond publicly during the episode.
Compiled by commissioned research from 3 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Timeline Β· 5
launches, deals, and filingsBenchmark and Index Ventures reported in talks to lead a round of at least $200 million valuing Instinct above $2.5 billion β roughly five times the valuation set weeks earlier. Not confirmed closed, so excluded from disclosed totals.
$200M Β· reported source β
Screenshots of Instinct's perpetual, irrevocable licence to user material circulated on X, alongside reports of undeletable Gmail records, email retained in plain text after disconnection, an unconfirmed email sent on a user's behalf, and a successful phishing test. The company did not respond publicly.
unresolved source β
Mamoon Hamid of Kleiner Perkins led the round in early August 2026; TechCrunch separately confirmed with investors that the Kleiner Perkins and Conviction rounds had closed.
$75M Β· closed source β
Noah Shinn registered the operating entity behind Instinct in April 2026, after leaving Sierra. Exact day not reported.
Sarah Guo of Conviction and Neil Mehta of Greenoaks led an early round valuing Instinct at over $100 million. Amount and date not reported.
closed source β
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities Β· 1
corporate structureIn the news
βΈResearch sources Β· 3
primary sources listed
- InstinctInstinct Β· company site
3 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Instinct do?
- AI personal assistant that operates a phone and a computer on your behalf, reachable by text or call.
- Who founded Instinct?
- Instinct was founded by Noah Shinn, Ashwin Datta in 2026.
- Who are Instinct's investors?
- Instinct's investors include Conviction, Greenoaks, Kleiner Perkins.
- How much funding has Instinct raised?
- Instinct has disclosed $75M raised across 1 round.
- Where is Instinct headquartered?
- Instinct is headquartered in San Francisco, US.