DeepSeek moves to lead $400 million seed round for Winverse AI

DeepSeek is moving to lead a seed funding round for Winverse AI, a stealth Chinese startup developing embodied intelligence software for physical robots, according to Bloomberg. The investment would value Winverse AI at approximately $400 million post-money after the transaction closes.

The seed round is targeting tens of millions of dollars in capital, Bloomberg reported. Meituan's venture capital arm, Long-Z Investments, has also committed to join the round. The deal terms remain subject to change, with both the valuation and the final list of participating investors still unsettled, according to Bloomberg.

Winverse AI was established in 2026 by Hu Han, a former scientist who previously led the vision-language and embodied foundation model teams at Tencent Holdings. Hu holds a doctorate from Tsinghua University and previously held research roles at Microsoft Research Asia and Baidu. His departure from Tencent occurred as the company restructured its artificial intelligence research operations.

Expansion into Robotics

The investment would extend the footprint of Hangzhou-based DeepSeek in the robotics industry beyond minority financial positions. In August 2026, DeepSeek acquired a 2.31% strategic stake in humanoid robot manufacturer Unitree Robotics prior to Unitree's stock market debut in Shanghai.

For the Unitree transaction, DeepSeek agreed to a 36-month lock-up period, which is triple the holding period accepted by most other strategic investors. Industry analysts described that holding as a strategic partnership rather than an investment focused primarily on financial returns.

DeepSeek is drawing capital for external investments from its own ongoing fundraising. The research lab is finalizing a funding round of 80 billion yuan, or roughly $12 billion, ahead of a planned stock market debut in early 2027, according to Bloomberg. While DeepSeek earmarked most of that capital for model training and data center infrastructure, the lab is also allocating funds to back external startups for joint technology development.

Global Robotics Competition

China has established a broad industrial manufacturing base for humanoid robot hardware. However, developing the software models that allow physical robots to comprehend speech and carry out complex real-world tasks remains a separate and less developed field, Bloomberg reported.

Competitors in the United States have secured substantial valuations while building general-purpose software for robots. American startups Skild AI and Physical Intelligence are valued at $14 billion and $5.6 billion respectively, drawing investments from major technology companies including Nvidia and Alphabet, according to Bloomberg.

Hu Han did not respond to requests for comment regarding the investment, Bloomberg reported. Representatives for DeepSeek and Long-Z Investments also did not respond to comment requests.