By-Health has quietly invested in half of the AI industry.

One of the most surreal business narratives of 2026 is that By-health, a leading health supplement brand, has emerged as the most active cross-sector player in China's AI large model landscape.

Since its establishment, DeepSeek has never publicly disclosed specific financing valuations, with market rumors ranging wildly from 200 billion to 500 billion yuan. Surprisingly, this veil was lifted by two A-share listed companies: one is luggage maker Share, and the other is health supplement producer By-health.

Not long ago, By-health announced in a public filing that it had invested 130 million yuan to indirectly hold a 0.04% stake in DeepSeek. At the same time, Share also disclosed that its 40 million yuan investment corresponds to a 0.0114% stake in the company.

The market immediately calculated based on the disclosed figures, placing DeepSeek's latest valuation in the range of 325 billion to 350.9 billion yuan. The previously undisclosed capital information of DeepSeek was accidentally made public through two listed company announcements, creating a highly dramatic scenario.

Both stocks were quickly regarded by investors as DeepSeek proxy targets. The next day, Share hit a 20% daily trading limit, while By-health surged in early trading before paring some gains, closing 1.21% higher for the day.

This pushed By-health into the spotlight. A review of public information shows that the DeepSeek investment is just the tip of the iceberg. Since April this year, By-health has launched a spree of concentrated investments, covering popular large model companies such as Kimi, DeepSeek, and StepStar, while also investing in two hard-tech chip firms, with a total investment of about 450 million yuan in just a few months.

How could a health supplement company accurately bet on multiple leading AI large model firms? It's worth noting that even Lu Qi, known as the "AI evangelist" who has long been rooted in the technology sector, missed out on the "Six AI Rising Dragons" startups.

The answer is not complicated: capital is the ticket, but connections are the real key to opening doors.

A

How hard is it to get an entry ticket to DeepSeek's financing round?

Just last month, the largest single round of financing in China's AI sector to date was finalized. DeepSeek completed its first external financing at a valuation of over 500 billion US dollars, raising a total of about 51 billion yuan. The investor lineup is exceptionally luxurious: founder Liang Wenfeng personally invested 20 billion yuan, Tencent contributed 100 billion yuan, the CATL ecosystem invested 50 billion yuan, and NetEase and JD each put in 3 billion yuan.

However, entry tickets to this feast are extremely scarce. DeepSeek set strict terms for this financing: all external funds are injected into a limited partnership managed by Liang Wenfeng, with a five-year lock-up period and no voting rights granted.

This means that having money alone is not enough to invest. Investors need Liang Wenfeng's trust and the endorsement of industrial consensus. Among VC institutions, only Monolith Capital and IDG Capital secured spots, each investing about 3 billion yuan.

By-health, a leading health supplement brand seemingly unrelated to AI, how did it get a seat at the table?

The story traces back to a specific fund. In June this year, By-health used its own capital to invest 130 million yuan in Tianjin Monolith Star Spirit Venture Capital Partnership, accounting for 19.12% of the fund's total 680 million yuan scale. The fund was established on May 25, and in June it injected all 2.9 billion yuan of paid-in capital into DeepSeek through Hangzhou Chengli.

This fund has a notable background. Managed by Monolith Capital, its founder Cao Xi is a former partner of HSG, who ranked second among Chinese investors on this year's Forbes Global Midas List. During his tenure at HSG, Cao Xi led investments in star projects such as Kuaishou, Douyu, Moonshot AI, and Unitree Robotics.

The partner list of Monolith Star Spirit is also filled with "state-backed institutions" and industry giants, including Zhejiang Gold Investment Science and Technology Innovation Fund, Beijing Guoguan Equity Fund, Shanghai United Media Group's Z Capital, Zhongguancun Science City, Huatai Securities, and Nanjing Huatai Yangtze River Mother Fund.

Amidst a crowd of state-owned capital and brokerages, By-health became one of the largest industrial capital contributors, which is closely related to its status as an "insider" in the investment circle.

As a long-established listed company, By-health has previously invested as an LP in many well-known investment institutions such as Danlu Capital and Dachen Cai Zhi. Although its past investments mostly focused on the healthcare sector, the GP connections and industry resources accumulated over years of being an LP allowed it to become a key LP of top-tier institution Monolith Capital, thus hitching a ride on DeepSeek's first round of external financing.

To channel funds into DeepSeek, By-health went through at least three layers of "shell entities".

First, it invested 130 million yuan as an LP in the Monolith Star Spirit fund. Monolith Star Spirit then subscribed to shares in Hangzhou Chengli, the holding platform established specifically for DeepSeek's financing. Hangzhou Chengli ultimately holds an 8.52% stake in DeepSeek. After penetrating through the three layers, By-health effectively holds about 0.04% of DeepSeek.

Although the stake is tiny, this is clearly a layout "linked to the AI concept". China's domestic health supplement industry has long entered a stock competition phase, with By-health's core business facing sluggish growth. Suddenly being associated with the hottest AI large model company in China may be more attention-grabbing than actual improvements to the company's fundamentals.

B

If By-health's investment in DeepSeek was a "free ride" through an existing channel, its bet on Moonshot AI was an entry ticket secured through associated personal connections.

How hard is it to get a spot in Moonshot AI's Series D financing? Even scammers know it. Back when rumors spread that Moonshot AI was preparing for Series D financing, its official Xiaohongshu account "Kimi Intelligent Assistant" urgently released a statement dispelling rumors, exposing a large number of fraudulent messages circulating in the market that were peddling "Moonshot AI financing shares". At that time, some information even blatantly claimed: "Direct investment quota of 100 million US dollars for Moonshot AI Series D, interested investors reach out."

In May this year, Moonshot AI completed its 2 billion US dollar Series D financing led by Meituan Dragon Ball, with a post-investment valuation exceeding 20 billion US dollars. Participating investors included institutions with "national team" backgrounds such as CPE, China Mobile, National Venture Capital, and Shunxi Fund.

At that time, By-health used 10 million US dollars of its own capital to subscribe to warrants issued by Moonshot AI Ltd, the parent company of Moonshot AI, purchasing 446,767 Series D preferred shares for a direct 0.11% stake.

By-health was able to participate thanks to a channel provided by associated personal connections. The public announcement stated: "Because Ms. Sun Jinyu, a relative of the company's actual controller Mr. Liang Yunchao, indirectly holds equity in the target company, this transaction constitutes a related-party transaction, and the related-party director Mr. Liang Yunchao abstained from voting on this proposal."

Who is Sun Jinyu? She is the mother-in-law of Liang Yunchao, the founder of By-health. She was already an important shareholder of the company back when By-health was listed.

Therefore, the market widely interprets that the indirect shareholding relationship of Sun Jinyu, a relative of the actual controller, provided By-health with access to participate in the Series D financing.

Two months later, By-health made another move. On July 2, its wholly-owned subsidiary Hong Kong Berry subscribed to 5 million US dollars worth of shares in an investment fund called Alpha K Innovations Fund Limited, through which it indirectly made an additional investment in Moonshot AI. The two investments total 15 million US dollars, giving By-health a combined 0.12% stake in Moonshot AI.

The announcement again confirmed: "Because the company's related party Ms. Sun Jinyu indirectly holds equity in the target company, this additional investment constitutes a related-party transaction."

What is the background of the Alpha K fund? The announcement shows that the fund was established in the Cayman Islands on June 3, 2026, with a registered capital of only 50,000 US dollars, and its main investment focus is Moonshot AI and its affiliates. Less than a month after its establishment, its only action was to accept By-health's capital. It is essentially a special purpose vehicle (SPV) specifically set up for investing in Moonshot AI.

Such SPVs are generally not open to the public, and only specific investors can participate. By-health was able to subscribe to its shares precisely because Sun Jinyu was already in this channel.

In addition to DeepSeek and Moonshot AI, By-health also indirectly invested 72.1 million yuan in large model company StepStar in April this year through the Tianjin Haitang Tonghui Venture Capital Fund; in the same month, it invested 10 million US dollars in smart car chip company XG TECH through an SPC under Huangpu River Capital; in June, it invested 50 million yuan to take a 0.97% stake in edge-side AI inference chip company Grain Semiconductor.

Capital is the foundation for By-health to get a seat at the AI investment table. Although its core business faces sluggish growth, the company has abundant cash flow. As of the end of 2025, the company's monetary funds stood at 2.449 billion yuan, with an asset-liability ratio of only 19.95%. Sufficient cash reserves and a healthy balance sheet provided abundant "ammunition" for this round of AI investments.

The total 450 million yuan AI investment accounts for less than 14% of the company's monetary funds. For By-health, if the bets pay off, the financial returns will be considerable; if they fail, it will not undermine the foundation of its core business.

But more importantly, it is experience and connections. Under the AI investment boom, when the highest-quality primary market targets are monopolized by top-tier institutions, to get a seat at the table, you either become an LP of a top-tier GP, or rely on channels opened by key personal connections.

How much return this sum of money can ultimately leverage will only become clear when these AI companies go public.

C

By-health is not an isolated case. In the past two years, cross-sector AI investments by consumer enterprises have become a prevailing trend.

Lotus MSG invested 300 million yuan in large model company StepStar; "Six Walnuts" parent company Yangyuan Beverage announced an investment of 1.6 billion yuan in the parent company of Yangtze Memory Technologies; juice giant SDIC Zhonglu invested 6 billion yuan to acquire China Electronics Engineering Design Institute, focusing on the design and construction of semiconductor plants and computing power centers; Jinzai Ham deployed high-speed optical module chips through its subsidiaries; Qianwei Central Kitchen contributed 100 million yuan to co-establish a fund targeting dexterous robot hand unicorns...

Industrial investment by consumer enterprises is not a new phenomenon. Consumer goods companies with abundant cash flow on their books either use the funds to expand their core businesses, or make financial layouts through investment departments or industrial funds. But in the past, such investments prioritized industrial synergy: food companies invested in supply chains, distribution channels, and consumer brands, with clear, easily understandable logic.

Now the landscape has changed completely: MSG factories are buying GPUs, juice companies are making chips, and ham sausage producers are venturing into semiconductors. The investment models have also expanded from small-scale financial shareholdings to three major types: large-scale acquisitions and deep operational integration through self-built industrial chains.

The underlying reasons are largely the same: core business growth has hit a ceiling, hot money is flowing to more promising targets, and AI is clearly the most attractive track, even if it only "appears" to be related to their existing business.

However, cross-sector AI investments also carry significant risks. Traditional enterprises generally lack AI technology, talent, and industrial chain resources, making it difficult to create synergy between old and new businesses. More importantly, AI requires heavy capital investment with a long payback period, which continuously drains cash flow from the core business.

Back in 2023, Lotus MSG relied on its wholly-owned subsidiary Lotus Kechuang to purchase large-scale computing power equipment from H3C Group, spending 693 million yuan in one go, officially entering the computing power sector.

The problem was that Lotus MSG lacked both stable major clients and core technological barriers. In 2025, the company prematurely terminated computing power contracts worth over 1.2 billion yuan, with multiple large-scale partnerships collapsing midway.

Large-scale equipment purchases continuously drained cash flow. By the end of June 2026, interest-bearing liabilities had risen to 930 million yuan, and the company admitted in its reply to the Shanghai Stock Exchange inquiry letter that "there is already pressure on daily capital turnover". In 2025, computing power service revenue contributed only 3.53% to total operating revenue.

Lotus MSG spent over a billion yuan, only to end up with a burden that cannot generate income and keeps losing money.

In May this year, Lotus MSG announced its plan to invest no more than 300 million yuan in large model company StepStar, and its stock price hit a 10% daily limit the next day.

Clearly, the market has grown tired of the "MSG king's" AI story.

But even with these lessons from the past, traditional industry giants are still flocking to this AI feast.

Whether selling protein powder or suitcases, the scramble for scarce AI project shares with large sums of capital essentially reflects the collective anxiety of traditional enterprises in an era of stock market competition: the core business has hit a growth ceiling, and no one wants to miss the new round of technological revolution.

But a financing entry ticket is not the same as securing a ticket to the future. When primary market valuations return to rational levels, only a small number of players will ultimately be able to realize returns.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Alphabet List" (ID: wujicaijing), author: Zhang Lin, published with authorization from 36Kr.