Tether led a $50 million funding round for AI sleep technology company Eight Sleep, valuing the company at $1.5 billion.

Stablecoin company Tether led a $50 million strategic funding round for sleep technology startup Eight Sleep, valuing the company at $1.5 billion. Eight Sleep focuses on sleep health products, including bedding and supplements, and previously raised $100 million in August of last year. Tether stated its optimism about the potential of health technology in "longevity, performance, and disease prevention" and will collaborate with Eight Sleep to develop AI-driven health technology products using its QVAC architecture and edge intelligence technology. QVAC, a privacy-oriented health technology service launched by Tether last December, integrates biometric health data from multiple devices, such as smart rings, onto a single platform, and uses on-device AI to assist in data management and health insights. Eight Sleep plans to create a sleep-focused AI agent for its core product, Pod, which automatically adjusts bed temperature, height, and sound based on data such as heart rate, breathing, and snoring. Eight Sleep founder Franceschetti stated that the company is training a predictive AI agent based on over 1 billion hours of sleep data and is also pursuing FDA approval for sleep apnea detection.