rewrite this title Silicon Valley Throws $100M at AI-Powered Mattress With a Subscription – Decrypt

Eight Sleep, a startup that sells $3,000 AI-powered mattresses with a monthly subscription fee, just raised $100 million in Series D funding, hoping to bolster a relatively novel idea within the consumer discretionary sector.

The round—led by Founders Fund, Y Combinator, Valor Equity Partners, and HSG (formerly Sequoia China)—also drew investments from F1 driver Charles Leclerc and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.

The deal pushes the company’s valuation to about $500 million, with more than $500 million in Pod sales reported since launch.



Eight Sleep’s “Pod” system uses water-filled tubes in a mattress cover to adjust bed temperature between 55°F and 110°F (13-43 °C).

Built-in sensors track heart rate, breathing, and heart rate variability, which an AI system called Autopilot uses to tweak the environment in real time.

Prices start at $2,500 for the mattress topper, and climb over $4,000 for the whole system. Then there’s a $17–$25 monthly subscription for “advanced features”—because yes, even your mattress now needs a membership plan.

The company has amassed a high-profile fan base, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Scarlett Johansson swears by it, and biohacker Bryan Johnson, who spends $2M a year on anti-aging, is another user.

“This new funding enables us to accelerate the deployment of AI for sleep optimization, expand into medical applications like menopausal sleep and sleep apnea, and bring our technology to millions of people around the world,” CEO Matteo Franceschetti said in the announcement. The former lawyer, turned sleep obsessive, founded the company in 2014 after struggling with his own sleep issues.

But not all the feedback has been positive. On social media, users have shared stories about glitches that cause the system to stop working entirely, leaving them with an expensive, non-functional bed. Others have reported issues with water leaks and connectivity problems.

The system’s AI has been called a “black box” by some users, who complain it does not provide transparent data.

Eight Sleep’s new funding will support the development of what it calls a “Sleep Agent,” an AI that will run thousands of nightly simulations to further refine a user’s rest. The company is also seeking FDA approval for medical applications of its technology, including treating menopausal hot flashes and sleep apnea..

The company says its AI models have processed over 1 billion hours of sleep data. With $100 million in fresh capital, the bet for Eight Sleep remains that its blend of hardware and software will continue to find a decent resting place, no matter the price.