OpenClaw, a lobster-themed open source startup, created a viral trend for people to use AI agents to manage their lives. Now, Instinct is wowing venture capitalists with a sleek AI help service that has helped the San Francisco startup raise a $2.5 billion valuation. © 2026 Bloomberg Finance LPAugust typically marks the plateau of fundraising for both startup founders and investors. But venture capitalists have been so eager to back Instinct, a new AI agent startup that reads and responds to text messages and emails and can perform tasks like booking flights and restaurant reservations, that they’ve raised at least two rounds in recent months. Instinct’s terms and conditions state that it is operated by a company Spear Street Technology that was registered in April by former Sierra researcher Noah Shinn, according to California corporate documents. The San Francisco-based startup’s valuation has skyrocketed from $100 million to more than $2.5 billion in just a matter of weeks. And the product isn’t even public yet. You have to get an invitation from VC experts to download it. “Instinct is a personal assistant that understands what you’re working on and what’s important to you,” reads the startup’s simple website. “He’s trained to use a phone and a computer. You can text him or call him. He uses his devices the same way humans do.” “It’s OpenClaw for normal people,” investor Sheel Mohnot wrote on X, referring to the open source agent that went viral in January. Once you’ve been given full control over your computer and accounts, OpenClaw promises to be able to manage your life. Although OpenAI hired its creator, interest in OpenClaw waned because it was complicated to set up and difficult to run economically and securely for people without coding experience. Instinct works much more like a consumer app. With one click, you can connect your AI to WhatsApp, Apple iMessage or email accounts. But it doesn’t just read and monitor messages and emails. You can also be tasked with carrying out tasks such as making restaurant reservations or booking a flight. Venture capitalists have praised Instinct’s usefulness. “Having an AI product that you trust to execute transactions on your behalf and navigate websites is incredible,” Midas List investor Sarah Guo wrote earlier this month on Pranav Reddy, a partner at Guo’s firm Conviction, led a first round in the company that valued it at $50 million, sources familiar with the deal told Forbes. Neil Mehta of Greenoaks was also an early backer of the company. Instinct and Greenoaks did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication. Conviction declined to comment. In early August, another Midas List investor, Mamoon Hamid of Kleiner Perkins, led a $75 million Series A round, valuing Instinct at more than $500 million. Now Benchmark and Index Ventures are in talks to lead another new round of at least $200 million that would value the startup at more than $2.5 billion, according to multiple sources familiar with the deal. Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark and Index Ventures did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication. Instinct is currently free to use, but could become a subscription service that could act as a “chief of staff” for users, or could serve ads based on their access to emails, text messages and financial records. That level of access to sensitive personal data has raised concerns. Instinct’s terms of use give it “perpetual and irrevocable” storage of user data, which could be used to train its AI models, TechCrunch reported (Instinct had no comment). AI founder Claire Vo posted that Instinct continued to access her Gmail and emails containing financial data after disconnecting the AI agent from her Google account. “So I ask on instinct. And it turns out the email connector was turned off BUT the agent has been saving copies of the emails in my inbox in their own records!” Vo wrote. Instinct did not respond to a request for comment. Not everyone’s experience of using the app seems to be as pleasant as Guo’s. Patron Fund’s Jason Yeh wrote on “Honestly, it’s crazy for anyone to give them the keys to their accounts in general, and they better cover the $200 cancellation fee here,” Yeh wrote. After publication, Shinn said in a statement: “The fundraiser is a reflection of early adopter enthusiasm around the potential of a proactive, always-on, extremely capable assistant who truly feels like it has access to all of your context and is always trying to help.” This story has been updated with additional comments and details from Instinct. More from Forbes Forbes’ British AI chip founder becomes Europe’s youngest billionaire By Alicia Park and Iain Martin Forbes AI’s latest rocket ship is a 28-year-old data company By Iain Martin Forbes AI startup Flapping Airplanes is in fundraising talks at a $5 billion valuation By Rashi Shrivastava, Iain Martin and team
