HongShan

HongShan is the China business formerly known as Sequoia Capital China, led by Neil Shen. Sequoia announced a three-way split of its global partnership in June 2023 and completed it in March 2024, since when HongShan has been a legally and financially separate partnership from Sequoia Capital in the US and Peak XV Partners in India and Southeast Asia — the portfolio below is HongShan's alone. Its AI programme spans every Chinese frontier model lab, the full embodied-intelligence stack from brains to hands to feet, autonomous driving and vision AI, and a brain-computer interface portfolio it began assembling in 2020.

HongShan logo
Founded
2005 (independent since 2024)
Headquarters
Hong Kong / Beijing, China
Leadership
Neil Shen — founding and managing partner
Type
Independent venture and growth firm
Stage
Seed to growth
Disclosed AI portfolio
26+ companies

How HongShan invests in AI

Every Chinese frontier lab, concentrated in MiniMax

HongShan holds positions in Moonshot AI, MiniMax, Zhipu AI, Light Years Beyond and StepFun — effectively the full field of Chinese foundation-model contenders. Its heaviest single bet is MiniMax, where it led a US$50M A+ round and kept adding, ending pre-IPO as the third largest financial shareholder at 3.81%.

Back early, then add on proof

The firm's seed vehicle entered Unitree Robotics at Pre-A in December 2019 with RMB 15M at a RMB 150M post-money valuation, then followed nearly every round to a 7.11% stake worth over RMB 2.5B on paper — the seed fund's first investment and the template for how HongShan compounds early conviction.

Embodied intelligence as a jigsaw

Rather than picking one robot winner, HongShan funded each layer of the stack: the brain (AgiBot), perception (Mech-Mind), hands (LinkerBot), feet (Lingzu Tech), force-controlled arms (Agile Robots), warehouse and consumer robots (Hai Robotics, Narwal, AgileX) and rehabilitation robotics (Fourier).

Brain-computer interfaces, five years early

From 2020 the firm systematically backed Neuracle, NeuroXess, Zhiran Medical and SceneRay, entering a category most institutional investors only discovered around 2025 and holding it with unusually long patience.

AI portfolio

Disclosed HongShan AI investments across foundation models, agents and applications, embodied intelligence, autonomous driving and vision, and brain-computer interfaces.

  • Moonshot AI logo
    Moonshot AIFoundation Models

    Maker of Kimi. HongShan has backed every round since the angel financing.

  • MiniMax logo
    MiniMaxFoundation Models

    Led a US$50M A+ round, then repeated follow-ons; third largest financial shareholder at 3.81% before listing.

  • Zhipu AI logo
    Zhipu AIFoundation Models

    One of the early institutional investors in the GLM model family.

  • Light Years BeyondFoundation Models

    Large-model startup founded by Wang Huiwen and later acquired by Meituan; HongShan was an investor.

  • StepFun logo
    StepFunMultimodal Models

    One of China's multimodal model leaders; HongShan is an investor.

  • Monica (Manus) logo
    Monica (Manus)General AI Agents

    Co-led the Series A; Manus went viral in March 2025 with two million users queuing within a week.

  • Smartmore logo
    SmartmoreIndustrial AI Agents

    HongShan holds 2.41% and is the sixth largest shareholder ahead of the company's IPO attempt.

  • Unitree Robotics logo
    Unitree RoboticsHumanoid and Quadruped Robots

    Seed fund entered at Pre-A in December 2019 (RMB 15M at RMB 150M post-money) and added across rounds to a 7.11% stake, over RMB 2.5B on paper.

  • AgiBot logo
    AgiBotEmbodied Foundation Models

    The 'brain' position in HongShan's embodied intelligence map.

  • Mech-Mind logo
    Mech-Mind3D Vision for Robots

    The 'perception' position — AI-powered industrial 3D vision.

  • LinkerBot logo
    LinkerBotDexterous Hands

    The 'hands' position — dexterous robotic hands.

  • Lingzu TechRobot Actuators

    The 'feet' position — leg and foot actuators for humanoid robots.

  • Hai Robotics logo
    Hai RoboticsWarehouse Robotics

    Case-handling mobile robots for automated warehouses.

  • Agile Robots logo
    Agile RobotsForce-Controlled Arms

    Force-sensing intelligent robot arms.

  • Segway-Ninebot logo
    Segway-NinebotSmart Mobility and Robotics

    Listed company spanning personal mobility and robotic lawn mowers.

  • Fourier Intelligence logo
    Fourier IntelligenceRehabilitation Robotics

    Rehabilitation and general-purpose humanoid robotics.

  • Narwal logo
    NarwalConsumer Robotics

    Premium robot floor cleaners.

  • AgileX RoboticsMobile Robot Platforms

    Robotic arms and mobile chassis used widely in embodied AI research.

  • Pony.ai logo
    Pony.aiAutonomous Driving

    HongShan led the company's first financing and invested in four consecutive rounds.

  • Horizon Robotics logo
    Horizon RoboticsAutomotive AI Chips

    Listed autonomous-driving compute platform.

  • SenseTimeComputer Vision

    Listed computer vision and multimodal AI group.

  • 4Paradigm logo
    4ParadigmEnterprise AI Platform

    Entered at Series A in 2015 and added across multiple later rounds.

  • NeuracleBrain-Computer Interface

    Backed from 2020, led internally by partner Yunxia Yang.

  • NeuroXess logo
    NeuroXessBrain-Computer Interface

    Early investor in this flexible high-bandwidth BCI company.

  • Zhiran MedicalBrain-Computer Interface

    Early-stage BCI investment.

  • SceneRayNeuromodulation

    Early-stage investment in implantable neuromodulation and BCI devices.

Beyond AI

A selected, non-exhaustive sample of the firm's wider internet and consumer track record.

  • ByteDance logo
    ByteDanceInternet

    Early backer of the TikTok and Douyin parent.

  • Meituan logo
    MeituanLocal Services

    Long-held position in China's largest local commerce platform.

  • Pinduoduo logo
    PinduoduoE-commerce

    Early investor in the PDD Holdings marketplace.

  • JD.com logo
    JD.comE-commerce

    Early institutional investor.

  • DJI logo
    DJIConsumer Drones

    Investor in the global drone leader.

Related rounds

No rounds led by HongShan are in the tracker yet. Deals will appear here as they are recorded.