DeepSeek on October 13 leads humanoid robot AI startup Winverse AI seed round at about $400 million post-money

DeepSeek announced on October 13 that it is leading a seed round in humanoid robot AI startup Winverse AI at a roughly $400 million post-money valuation. Winverse AI was founded in 2026 by former Tencent Holdings chief scientist Hu Han, who previously led visual language and embodied foundation model teams. The round also received subscription commitments from Meituan's Long-Z Investments and other institutions. Funding for the investment comes from DeepSeek's most recent funding round, which raised more than $12 billion. If completed, the deal will accelerate the Chinese AI leader's integration of embodied intelligence into practical scenarios and provide foundational technical support for commercial humanoid robotics. DeepSeek's accumulated capabilities in foundation models will be migrated to robotic body decision-making and motion control, marking a key step for Chinese large model vendors in expanding from pure software toward embodied intelligence hardware.