DeepSeek Plans Investment in Embodied AI Startup Founded by Former LimX Dynamics Team Lead Yu Tao

Industry sources said on Oct. 18, 2026, that DeepSeek plans to invest in an embodied AI startup founded by Yu Tao, former head of humanoid robot foundation models at LimX Dynamics. The startup focuses on LLM-powered embodied intelligence, with its two funding rounds valued at approximately $70 million and $200 million, respectively.

While at LimX Dynamics, Yu Tao built the company's motion mimic system and whole-body tracking System 0 from scratch. The planned investment comes as DeepSeek has stepped up activity in embodied AI. In August 2026, it spent about RMB 141 million on a strategic placement in robot maker Unitree's IPO and signed a joint R&D memorandum. On Oct. 12, it was reported that DeepSeek planned to lead an investment in Winverse AI, founded by former Tencent scientist Hu Han, at a post-money valuation of about $400 million.

DeepSeek's public AGI roadmap lists embodied intelligence as a later-stage direction after language models, chain-of-thought, agents, continual learning and self-iteration.