DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based AI lab, has agreed to lead a seed round worth tens of millions of US dollars for Winverse AI, a startup founded in 2026 by former Tencent scientist Hu Han to build AI for robots, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal has not been finalized and would value Winverse at about US$400 million after the investment.

Meituan’s Long-Z Investments has also committed, the people said, though the valuation and list of investors could still change.

A Grishin Robotics post described Long-Z as Meituan’s venture arm and said it led Moonshot AI’s roughly US$2 billion round.

The proposed investment would add to DeepSeek’s work in embodied AI, which applies AI models to physical systems such as robots.

DeepSeek also invested US$20.8 million in Unitree’s Shanghai initial public offering. It also comes as China’s embodied AI sector has attracted record funding, signaling growing investor interest in robotics-focused AI startups.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

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