Noah Shinn, founder of the AI agent platform Instinct, revealed that more than 50% of transactions on the site are related to travel, reinforcing the notion that booking trips remains the most common use case for artificial intelligence assistants. The figures emerged during a recent podcast appearance with investor Patrick O’Shaughnessy, where Shinn also noted the invite-only service is approaching an annual run rate of $1 billion in transactions.
Shinn argued that Instinct offers a superior alternative to traditional booking sites by unifying multiple hotel chains, airlines, and service providers into a single interface. “People who are not on Instinct use travel agencies or sites to book hotels or flights,” he said. “What’s the benefit of that interface? They properly unify different hotel chains, airlines, and services, and present them in a nice way for users, who have the option to check out immediately.” He added that the platform allows users to simply state urgent needs, such as needing a flight to New York that same night.
The company is reportedly expanding rapidly, with Shinn claiming the platform sees a 10% daily increase in growth and transaction volume.
Beyond travel, Shinn outlined ambitions to overhaul the restaurant reservation industry, which currently relies heavily on first-come, first-served systems. He suggested that Instinct agents could monitor restaurant websites every five seconds to alert users of available slots, particularly for significant life events. Shinn posited that restaurants prefer hosting customers celebrating special occasions rather than locals who occupy tables without a specific event.
These comments attracted scrutiny on social media, with some observers noting that users could potentially fabricate special occasions to secure reservations. Others countered that restaurants often value local patrons for their consistency as regular customers.
Instinct recently closed a $1 billion Series C funding round led by Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue, placing its valuation at $10 billion. The 14-person startup now competes in the personal agent market against products such as Meta’s Muse and Khosla Ventures-backed Wajo.
I’ll believe the one-stop shop works when it actually handles my messy layover problems better than the airline apps.
Unreal that this is only 14 people. The efficiency of AI agents must be staggering if they’re handling all this volume.
Does anyone else think monitoring restaurant sites every five seconds is a bit invasive? Feels like digital stalking.
Travel automation is exactly what I need. Consolidating airlines and hotels into one interface sounds like a dream come true.
A ten-person startup already at a billion-dollar valuation is… optimistic. Let’s see if the growth sustains.
So I can just lie about my anniversary to get a table at that hard-to-book spot? Count me in!