A new AI laboratory founded by Junyang Lin has secured several hundred million dollars in its initial funding round. Lin previously served as the lead for Alibaba’s Qwen large language model team.
The financing establishes a post-money valuation of approximately $2 billion for the startup. Gaorong Ventures invested $100 million as a co-lead in the round. HongShan also contributed $100 million as a co-lead investor.
Tencent Holdings participated as a strategic investor with a $20 million contribution. Lin departed Alibaba in March 2026.