DeepSeek to Lead Seed Round in $400mn Robot AI Start-up, Bloomberg Reports
DeepSeek has agreed to lead the first funding round for Winverse AI, a months-old start-up building AI for robots, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The seed round is valued at tens of millions of dollars, according to the report, putting Winverse at a post-investment valuation of approximately $400 million. Meituan’s investment arm, Long-Z, is also said to have committed.
Key Points:
- The deal is not final, and the valuation and investors could change.
- Winverse was founded this year by Hu Han, a former Tencent scientist with a PhD from Tsinghua University and experience at Microsoft Research Asia and Baidu.
- DeepSeek is making a significant investment, having previously acquired a stake in Unitree, a humanoid robot maker.
Background:
- DeepSeek is raising at least $12 billion in a round backed by Tencent, planning for an early 2027 listing.
- Building robot bodies is a Chinese strength, and making them "smart enough" for real-world tasks requires distinct AI from chatbots, with US rivals already valued in the billions.
Ana Maria Constantin, with expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding, contributed to this article.