Report: DeepSeek Leads $400 Million Round for Winverse Robotics
DeepSeek is leading a seed round for robotics AI startup Winverse at a valuation of around $400 million, with participation from Meituan's Long-Z Investments, though the deal has not been finalized yet.
Chinese company DeepSeek is leading a seed funding round for Winverse AI, a startup specializing in robotics artificial intelligence, at a post-money valuation of around $400 million, according to Bloomberg citing people familiar with the talks. Investors participating in the round alongside DeepSeek include Long-Z Investments, an affiliate of Chinese company Meituan, though the deal has not been finalized yet.
Winverse was founded in 2026 by Hu Han, a former scientist at Chinese company Tencent.
Hu Han holds a PhD from Tsinghua University and previously worked at Microsoft Research Asia and at Chinese company Baidu, according to the report.
Winverse is building AI models that would give robots the ability to respond to speech and solve real-world problems, models different from those used in chatbots. The deal moves DeepSeek beyond chatbots into real-world applications such as humanoid robots on factory floors. The round is sized in the tens of millions of dollars and has not been finalized yet, as its value and the participating investors could still change, according to the report citing people familiar with the talks.
What Do These Terms Mean?
Seed Round: The first round of funding entered into by a startup, usually coming from investors or venture capital funds taking on high risk in exchange for equity in the company.
Post-Money Valuation: The value calculated for a company after adding new money to its capital, which is higher than the pre-money valuation because the new funds are included in the calculation.
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