Instinct's earlier $250 million raise valued it at $2.5 billion, before September's larger round

Instinct's later billion-dollar funding headline followed an earlier round. Separating the two helps distinguish the money raised from the value investors put on the company.

What happenedReuters' September report says founder Noah Shinn had described an earlier $250 million raise at a $2.5 billion valuation. TechCrunch's updated August report names Index Ventures and Benchmark as leads.

Why it mattersThe sequence explains the later jump in valuation. It does not measure how much useful work the agent completes, and the earlier raise must not be confused with the later $1 billion round.