Former Alibaba Qwen Lead Lin Junyang Founds AI Lab, First Round Valued at $2 Billion with Tencent, Sequoia China, and Gaorong Capital

According to The Information on June 15, Lin Junyang, former head of Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen) large model, has completed the first round of financing for his AI lab, totaling several hundred million dollars, with a post-investment valuation of approximately $2 billion (about 13.5 billion RMB). The round was co-led by Sequoia Capital China and Gaorong Capital, each investing $100 million, with Tencent following with $20 million. After the first round, Lin has begun seeking new funding, with industry sources suggesting a target valuation of up to $5 billion.

Founder Background and Startup Direction

Lin Junyang, born in 1993, earned his bachelor's degree in English from the University of International Relations and a master's degree in Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics from Peking University. He joined Alibaba DAMO Academy in 2019 as a senior algorithm engineer, participating in projects like the M6 multimodal model. By the end of 2022, he became the technical lead for Tongyi Qianwen, making him one of Alibaba's youngest P10-level employees. He led the development of the Qwen open-source model family, elevating it to the top tier of global open-source AI models. In March 2026, Lin announced his departure from Alibaba, with several core Qwen members following him.

The new company focuses on two directions: World Model and Embodied Brain. In a post-departure essay titled "From Reasoning Thinking to Agentic Thinking," Lin proposed that the next phase of AI should enable models to "think for action," which is seen as his entrepreneurial manifesto. As early as October 2025, he had formed a small robotics and embodied intelligence team within Alibaba.

Company Entities and Naming

According to Qichacha, Lin registered multiple company entities between May and June 2026: wholly-owned Yuyong (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd., 99%-owned Shanghai Bulage Technology Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Gewuzhiyong Management Consulting Partnership (controlled via Bulage Technology). The name "Bulage" is a transliteration of "Pragmatics," and "Yuyong Technology" also references linguistics, reflecting his background.

Funding Background and Market Signals

The $2 billion valuation is extremely rare for a Chinese AI startup, especially one with no product released and zero revenue. The capital bet is primarily on Lin Junyang's personal track record and his achievements at Alibaba. For comparison, former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever's SSI reached a $5 billion valuation three months after founding, while former CTO Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab had a seed round valuation of $10 billion.

Tencent's $20 million follow-on investment, though modest, sends a clear signal. Tencent has invested in multiple large model companies, including Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and Zhipu AI, and is currently participating in DeepSeek's funding round, adopting a strategy of "self-development + broad investment" in the AI sector.

Industry Impact

Lin Junyang's startup marks a new phase in China's large model competition. Zhipu AI and MiniMax have already listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with market capitalizations exceeding HKD 500 billion and HKD 230 billion respectively, driving high valuation premiums in the secondary market that spill over to the primary market. Lin's journey from departure to a $2 billion valuation took only about two months, far faster than previous Chinese large model companies (Moonshot AI took 10 months, MiniMax about 1.5 years, and Zhipu AI over 3 years).