Stablecoin giant Tether is in discussions to lead a €1 billion ($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 finalized, the investment would represent a sharp rise from Neura’s last round in January, when it raised €120 million.
Tether did not confirm the talks to FT but said it is “actively exploring numerous opportunities to continue investing in frontier tech.”
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 tech, and sports. The company made over $10 billion in profit in the first nine months of the year by investing reserves from its stablecoin operations, which include holding large amounts of U.S. Treasuries.
The stablecoin giant also holds billions of dollars worth of gold, along with bitcoin reserves. The company has recently raised its bet on video-sharing platform Rumble, ad was earlier reportedly looking to raise funds at a $500 billion valuation.
Interest in humanoid robots has surged as firms like 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.