Tencent invests in Alibaba's New AI Lab, formerly head of Tongyi Qianwen, raising hundreds of millions of dollars in its first round of financing.

Odaily Odaily reports that Lin Junyang, former core member of Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen, has completed its first round of financing for a new AI lab, raising hundreds of millions of US dollars and valuing the company at approximately $2 billion post-investment. Sequoia China and Gaorong Capital each led the round with $100 million, while Tencent participated with $20 million. Lin Junyang left the company in March due to disagreements over team restructuring. The project has now begun preparations for a new round of financing. Tencent, which is increasing its investment in AI, has previously invested in several large-scale domestic model companies and is currently participating in DeepSeek's latest round of financing. (The Information)