DeepSeek to Lead Seed Round for Robotics Startup Winverse AI at ~$400M Valuation

What happened

On October 12, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News that Hangzhou-based AI lab DeepSeek has agreed to lead a seed round worth tens of millions of US dollars for Winverse AI, a robotics AI startup, at a post-money valuation of about $400 million.

Winverse AI was founded in 2026 and remains in stealth mode. Its founder is former Tencent scientist Hu Han, a co-author of the Swin Transformer paper. The company is building AI that lets robots perceive their surroundings, understand instructions, and act autonomously in the physical world — embodied AI.

Meituan's Long-Z Investments has also committed to the round. The people said the valuation and the list of investors could still change, and the deal has not been finalized.

Key facts

1. Post-money valuation: of about $400 million; seed round worth tens of millions of dollars (per people familiar with the matter; deal not finalized)
2. Founder: Hu Han is a former Tencent scientist and a co-author of the Swin Transformer paper; founded in 2026, still in stealth mode
3. Co-investor: Meituan's Long-Z Investments has committed to the round
4. Context: DeepSeek previously invested $20.8 million in Unitree's Shanghai IPO; China's embodied-AI sector is attracting record funding, the report said