Tencent backs ex-Alibaba Qwen lead's new AI lab as first round closes at $2B
What's the deal? Tencent has backed the new AI lab founded by Junyang LinDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, former lead researcher of Alibaba's QwenDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → models. Tencent invested $20M in the lab's first funding round, which raised several hundred million dollars at a post-money valuation of around $2B. The round was led by Gaorong Ventures and HongShanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, each of which put in $100M.
Having just closed the deal, Lin is already looking to raise another round.
Why it matters. A $2B valuation for a brand-new lab is almost unheard of in China, where startups are typically valued far below their US peers. Investor appetite traces largely to Lin's record at Alibaba, where Qwen became one of the leading open-source model families.
The signal. Tencent has backed many of China's frontier model developers, including Moonshot AIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, MiniMax and Zhipu, and is also participating in DeepSeek's current fundraising. Lin departed Alibaba in early March 2026 in a rare public fall-out, announcing his resignation on X before the company made any official statement.
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