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DeepSeek Backs Winverse AI at a Potential $400 Million Valuation
DeepSeek has agreed to lead a seed round for Winverse AI, a robotics startup founded by former Tencent scientist Hu Han. The proposed financing is in the tens of millions of dollars and would value Winverse at about $400 million after inves
AI.info Team · Written with AI ·
DeepSeek has agreed to lead a seed round for Winverse AI, a stealth startup developing artificial intelligence for robots, in a deal that would value the company at about $400 million after investment. The proposed financing totals tens of millions of dollars, according to Bloomberg News, which cited people familiar with the matter. The transaction has not been finalized, and its valuation and investor lineup could still change.
Winverse’s $400 Million Is a Post-Investment Valuation
Meituan’s Long-Z Investments is among the other investors that have committed to the round, Bloomberg reported. The roughly $400 million figure is Winverse’s proposed post-money valuation, not the size of the seed financing. Bloomberg described the investment as one of DeepSeek’s largest bets on a startup since the lab was founded in 2023.
Winverse is based in Hangzhou and was founded in 2026 by Hu Han, who most recently led Tencent’s vision-language and embodied foundation-model teams as a lead scientist. Hu holds a doctorate from Tsinghua University and has worked at Microsoft Research Asia and Baidu, according to the report. The startup remains in stealth, with no product or technical plans detailed in the report.
DeepSeek Turns Some Funding Toward Robot AI
The investment would draw on DeepSeek’s own fundraising, which Bloomberg has reported is close to at least 80 billion yuan, or about $12 billion. The capital was primarily intended for model training and data centers, but the lab may also use some of it to back startups for joint development. That makes Winverse a possible extension of DeepSeek’s spending beyond the infrastructure and models behind its core AI work.
DeepSeek has already taken a stake in robotics hardware company Unitree Robotics, buying about 2% through Unitree’s Shanghai listing, Bloomberg reported. The companies are collaborating on embodied-intelligence models. Winverse’s proposed round would place DeepSeek on the financing side of a separate effort: building AI specifically for robots.
The Deal Depends on Embodied AI, Not Just Robot Hardware
China has a strong manufacturing base for humanoid robots, but producing systems that can interpret speech and carry out complex tasks in the physical world requires AI as well as hardware, Bloomberg reported. Winverse is entering that software challenge, though the company’s stealth status means the report offers no public evidence about its models, demonstrations, or commercial plans. The proposed valuation therefore reflects investor commitments reported by Bloomberg, not a disclosed product launch or operating performance.
Bloomberg said Hu, DeepSeek and Long-Z representatives did not respond to requests for comment. Until the transaction closes, the reported valuation and investor participation remain provisional. For now, the concrete step is DeepSeek’s agreement to spearhead a seed round measured in tens of millions of dollars—not a $400 million funding raise.