Tencent backs ex-Alibaba AI lead's new lab at $2 billion valuation

Tencent has invested in a new AI lab founded by Lin Junyang, the former head of Alibaba’s Qwen large language model, according to The Information.

In the first round, Tencent put in $20 million, with total funding reaching several hundred million dollars and a post-money valuation of roughly $2 billion. Sequoia Capital China and Gaorong Capital led the round, each investing $100 million. Lin is already seeking a subsequent round, sources said.

Tencent has previously invested in several Chinese foundational model developers, including Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and Zhipu AI, and is also participating in DeepSeek’s latest funding round.

Lin left Alibaba in early March after a disagreement over team restructuring, announcing his resignation publicly on X.