Lin Junyang, former technical lead of Alibaba's Qwen (Tongyi Qianwen) team, announced on August 12, 2026 the founding of Pragmatik Labs (Chinese entity: Yuyong Technology, internally abbreviated as p7k) in Shanghai, focusing on developing "next-generation AI agents spanning the digital and physical worlds."
The company received joint leadership investment from Gaorong Ventures and Sequoia China, with participation from Tencent and the Shanghai Future Industry Fund.
Multiple venture capital industry sources revealed that Pragmatik Labs has a pre-investment valuation of US$2 billion, with a new funding round valuation potentially exceeding US$5 billion (approximately 33.8 billion yuan).
Lin explained the company name: "I studied linguistics because a friend recommended pragmatics. Later I shifted to computational linguistics and natural language processing. The name means returning to where things happen. It also signifies pragmatism - we believe AGI should aim for this." The English name "Pragmatik" (p7k) borrows from the linguistic concept of pragmatics, emphasizing context, interaction, and language understanding in real-world scenarios.
This represents another major talent movement in China's competitive AI landscape, as top researchers leave established tech giants to pursue ambitious AGI visions through independent ventures.
Source: Z Finance, AGI Era, August 12, 2026
