Hard Kr Exclusive First Report | DJI-affiliated AI natural exploration company has received investment from 5Y Capital and Shunwei Capital, pioneering the original underwater optical system for the first time.

36Kr HardKrypton has learned that Deeplore, an underwater AI nature exploration technology company, recently closed a multi-million-yuan seed round of financing, co-invested by 5Y Capital and Shunwei Capital. The funds will be primarily used to expand the R&D team, deepen underwater AI technology research, accelerate the iterative launch of its first AI diving mask, and build the technical foundation for an intelligent underwater nature exploration platform.

A group of long-time DJI veterans with over a decade of experience in the consumer electronics industry have shifted their focus from the sky to the deep sea.

Deeplore was founded in Shenzhen in 2025. Most of its core team members are from DJI, covering full links of product definition, robust R&D, and global business operations, forming a typical "technology + mass production + globalization" combination.

What makes it more special is that all three founders are veteran diving and outdoor sports enthusiasts: Founder Qiu Li is a rescue diver with over 200 dives. He previously served as DJI's core structural expert and head of the Energy Business Unit, and later accumulated full end-to-end operational experience as the co-founder of Senhe Innovation; Co-founder Zhou Zhenhao has worked at DJI for over a decade, leading the R&D of power systems for multiple benchmark products including Phantom and Mavic, and also holds a hundred-dive rescue qualification; Co-founder Gu Minming has 20 years of experience in global brand marketing and channel operations. The brand Neakasa she founded successfully entered mainstream European and American retail channels such as Best Buy and Home Depot, and she is also a deep outdoor sports enthusiast.

"Explorers for Explorers" is the starting point of this team's entrepreneurial journey. Tired of the various inconveniences of traditional equipment during their own dives, and seeing that this long-time overseas-brand-monopolized track has long failed to meet users' real demands for recording, safety, and sharing, they decided to step in and build solutions themselves.

This is an undervalued high-value blue ocean: there are over 40 million certified divers worldwide, who have strong willingness to pay, value product performance over brand reputation, and drive extremely efficient word-of-mouth spread within their community. However, the overall intelligence level of the industry remains extremely low, and traditional equipment with scattered functions can no longer meet the demands of explorers.

Deeplore chose to break through from the diving mask, the core underwater entry point, to create an AI-driven intelligent underwater mask system. Leveraging three core technologies: native multi-medium optical design technology, underwater HUD head-up display, and on-device AI marine life recognition, it systematically reconstructs the underwater exploration experience, helping users preserve more authentic and perfect diving memories.

The following is an excerpt of HardKrypton's exclusive interview with Qiu Li, Founder of Deeplore:

HardKrypton: Why did you choose to enter the underwater exploration track instead of continuing to focus on mature tracks such as drones and consumer electronics?

Qiu Li: As a rescue diver with over 200 dives, I have personally experienced many pain points of traditional diving equipment. Looking at the entire industry, overseas brands have long dominated the market, with no essential product upgrades for years. Underwater exploration has barely undergone intelligent transformation, leaving a huge market gap.

At the same time, diving is a high-value blue ocean with users who have strong willingness to pay and highly efficient community-based word-of-mouth spread. Our team has mature experience in hardware R&D, mass production, and global expansion, allowing us to apply proven consumer electronics methodologies to this track. We are explorers ourselves, and we hope to build products that truly solve users' pain points.

HardKrypton: What are the core competitive barriers of the team? What are the differentiated advantages compared with other underwater equipment manufacturers?

Qiu Li: There are four main core barriers:

First, the systems engineering and mass production capabilities accumulated from the DJI ecosystem, with mature reliability control and large-scale delivery experience that can meet the strict requirements of extreme underwater environments;

Second, self-developed core technologies including native underwater optics, underwater AR display, and on-device AI, with independent patents that are difficult for competitors to replicate in the short term;

Third, the team itself consists of deep diving users, so all designs are refined based on real underwater scenarios, never deviating from actual usage demands;

Fourth, the team has years of in-depth understanding and operational experience in European and American markets, especially familiar with the operation models of offline retail channels in these regions, which can support the global rollout of products.

HardKrypton: What are the core innovations in product functions and user experience?

Qiu Li: We are building an AI-driven intelligent underwater mask system, with core innovations concentrated in three dimensions, which systematically solve the pain points of traditional diving equipment and help users preserve more complete diving memories.

The first is the industry's pioneering natively designed underwater optical system, breaking away from the traditional "camera + waterproof housing" approach. The lens directly contacts the water body, with native optical tuning tailored for the underwater environment, fundamentally solving the problems of poor resolution, limited FOV, and severe chromatic dispersion. Its underwater shooting performance reaches industry-leading levels, which is also our core technical barrier.

The second is the underwater HUD head-up display, which presents key diving data in the user's field of vision imperceptibly, eliminating the need to raise a hand to check a dive computer. This truly frees the user's hands, allowing them to stay fully focused on the underwater environment throughout the dive, while also improving diving safety.

The third is on-device AI marine life recognition. Leveraging real-time on-device AI capabilities, it can automatically identify marine organisms and trigger intelligent recording, adding fun and educational value to the exploration process, while automatically capturing wonderful underwater moments for users.

HardKrypton: What is the commercialization path and market plan for the product?

Qiu Li: We adopt a top-down branding strategy. Our first product is positioned in the mid-to-high end segment, starting with the professional diving community to build reputation, before gradually expanding our product portfolio to cover a broader user base. On the channel side, we will simultaneously develop domestic professional diving channels and mainstream European and American retail markets, leveraging our team's years of experience in overseas offline channels to quickly achieve global commercial deployment.

HardKrypton: How will Deeplore's long-term platform vision of "extending from underwater to full-domain nature exploration" be specifically implemented?

Qiu Li: At this stage, we are focused on the underwater track, taking the AI diving mask as the core carrier to fully master underlying technologies including underwater optics, AR display, and on-device AI, and refine the full-link experience of underwater sports exploration.

In the long run, leveraging our accumulated AI perception, portable imaging, and lightweight display technologies, we will gradually expand to other water sports, and even more outdoor scenarios such as mountaineering and hiking, to build a complete intelligent nature exploration platform. We will always adhere to the "Explorers for Explorers" concept, using technology to lower the barriers to exploration, helping more people deeply explore nature, and continuously pushing the boundaries of human capabilities.

HardKrypton: What are the main uses of the funds from this round of financing? What is the development plan for the next stage?

Qiu Li: The funds will be mainly invested in two major directions: first, expanding the R&D team, bringing in more professionals in the fields of optics, AR, AI algorithms, and underwater structural engineering to continuously consolidate our technical barriers; second, accelerating the testing and mass production rollout of our first AI diving mask, and improving the supporting content sharing system.

Our short-term goal is to launch the product to the market and connect core channels at home and abroad. In the medium to long term, we will gradually expand our full-scenario nature exploration product line to build a globally leading AI nature exploration technology platform.