DeepSeek eyes investment in ex-Tencent scientist's AI robotics startup at $400 million valuation: Bloomberg

DeepSeek has reportedly agreed to lead a seed funding round worth tens of millions of dollars for AI robotics startup Winverse AI at a $400 million valuation.

Winverse AI was founded by former top Tencent scientist Hu Han earlier this year, and has also drawn commitments from other investors including Meituan's Long-Z Investments, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The months-old startup is developing AI models for robots, an area known as embodied AI that aims to enable machines to understand and interact with their physical environments.

Han's exit from Tencent coincided with a restructuring of the WeChat operator's AI team, as it seeks to catch up with domestic rivals like DeepSeek and Moonshot. Han previously held roles at Microsoft Research Asia and Baidu.

The transaction has not yet been finalized, and details including the valuation and other investors could still change, the people said.

The potential deal would mark one of the largest investments yet for the Chinese AI lab, itself only founded in 2023 by hedge fund manager Liang Wenfeng. DeepSeek's largest publicly disclosed investment was $20.8 million in the Shanghai listing of another robotics-related firm, Unitree, in August. DeepSeek also agreed to collaborate with Unitree on embodied AI models, as the company expands its involvement in robotics.

The Latent reached out to DeepSeek for comment.

DeepSeek's own fundraising

Meanwhile, DeepSeek is close to securing at least $12 billion in a new funding round of its own, Bloomberg reported last week, ahead of a potential initial public offering in early 2027.

That capital was intended for model training and data centers, but may now also allow DeepSeek to back the startups it needs for co-development, the outlet said.