DeepSeek Secures Three-Year Lockup in Unitree Robotics IPO Placement

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, founded by Liang Wenfeng, has secured a strategic placement in Unitree Robotics' upcoming STAR Market initial public offering, according to company disclosures reported by Chinese financial media. DeepSeek was allocated 933,400 shares worth 141 million yuan with a mandatory 36-month lockup period. Set to raise roughly 6.099 billion yuan at an offer price of 150.80 yuan per share, Unitree is valued at nearly 61 billion yuan. The strategic investor lineup also includes Tencent's investment arm, state-backed industrial giants, and national social security funds, reflecting tight alignment between Chinese frontier AI algorithms and embodied robotics hardware.

The three-year binding partnership between DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics marks a pivotal moment in combining frontier large language models with embodied robotics hardware. By locking up equity for a long horizon, both partners aim to co-develop interactive algorithms and enhance the generalization capabilities of humanoid robots in real-world scenarios.

Robotics maker Unitree Robotics disclosed strategic placement details for its upcoming initial public offering on Shanghai's STAR Market, revealing that Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research Co., Ltd. has secured a major stake with a three-year lockup period, according to company announcements covered by National Business Daily and Securities Times. Unitree set its IPO price at 150.80 yuan per share, giving the company a post-issuance valuation of 60.993 billion yuan. Issuing 40.446 million shares—representing 10% of total share capital—the company expects to raise approximately 6.099 billion yuan. DeepSeek, founded by Quantitative investor Liang Wenfeng, received 933,400 shares worth 141 million yuan, or 2.31% of the total IPO issue, with a required 36-month lockup period. According to official disclosures reported by Securities Times, the strategic placement roster features a mix of state capital, social security funds, and tech conglomerates. Investors include three portfolios under the National Social Security Fund, Tencent's Shanghai Qishan Investment, PetroChina's Kunlun Capital, Southern Power Grid Financial Holding, and China Telecom's Tianyi Capital. Founder and controlling shareholder Wang Xingxing also committed 15 million yuan of personal funds to the placement. Wang's total voting control will adjust from 68.78% to no more than 65.31% post-issuance. Unitree's regulatory filings indicate that bringing in top-tier artificial intelligence partners aims to drive collaborative research combining large language models with embodied robotics. The technical collaboration will focus on improving humanoid robots' environmental understanding and generalization capabilities in complex operational settings. Financial statements included in the prospectus show strong recent growth. Unitree reported revenue of 1.699 billion yuan and non-GAAP net profit of 590 million yuan for 2025. The company projects first-half 2026 revenue between 1.052 billion and 1.128 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 35.62% to 45.41%. Proceeds from the listing will be directed toward intelligent robot model research, hardware development, and the construction of a new manufacturing facility.