DeepSeek is stepping out of chatbots and into robotics, leading a seed round that values a startup building AI for robots at $400 million before it has shipped a product.
Bloomberg reports that the Chinese AI lab will lead the first funding round for Winverse AI, a startup developing artificial intelligence for robots. The round itself totals just tens of millions of dollars, but investors are pricing the as-yet-unproven startup at about $400 million post-money. Meituan's investment arm, Long-Z, is also putting in money, according to people familiar with the deal. Neither Bloomberg's sources nor DeepSeek have detailed what Winverse's technology does or when it ships anything.
That follows a familiar script. AI labs and well-funded robotics startups have spent the past two years arguing that the next big platform shift lives in warehouses and factories, not chat windows. DeepSeek joining in, even with a modest seed check, suggests that argument now has serious money behind it in China too, not just Silicon Valley.
A $400 million valuation on a company that hasn't shipped a product is standard practice in this market. Whether Winverse's robots are worth it is a separate question entirely.