Stablecoin giant Tether is in discussions to lead a 1 billion euro ($1.16 billion) funding round for Neura Robotics, a German start-up developing AI-powered humanoid robots.
The potential deal would value Neura between €8 billion and €10 billion, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the talks. If completed, the investment would represent a sharp increase from Neura’s last round in January, when it raised €120 million.
Tether did not confirm the talks to the FT, but said it is “actively exploring several opportunities to continue investing in frontier technology.”
Neura’s main product is a humanoid robot designed for industrial use, with plans to expand into home environments. The company has publicly aimed to produce 5 million robots by 2030 and is positioning its offering as a potential mainstream breakthrough, a so-called “iPhone moment” for robotics. It has already booked €1 billion in orders, according to its January statement.
Tether’s expanding investment portfolio includes companies in agriculture, brain technology and sports. The company made over $10 billion in profits in the first nine months of the year by investing reserves from its stablecoin operations, which include large amounts of US Treasuries.
The stablecoin giant also has billions of dollars worth of gold along with bitcoin reserves. The company recently upped its stake in video-sharing platform Rumble, ad was previously reportedly looking to raise $500 billion worth of funding.
Interest in humanoid robots has increased as companies such as Nvidia, Tesla and SoftBank race to apply generative AI to physical machines.
Tesla aims to produce 1 million Optimus robots by 2030. Startups like 1X, Figure AI and The Bot Company are also competing for a piece of what Nvidia’s CEO recently described as a multitrillion-dollar opportunity.
