Key facts
- Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is reportedly planning a new fundraising round at a valuation of approximately 500 billion yuan ($74 billion).
- The company raised about $7.4 billion in June at a post-money valuation of about 450 billion yuan.
- DeepSeek is looking to raise as much as 50 billion yuan in the new funding round.
- The company has started early deliberations on a potential IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market.
- DeepSeek has set an internal target to complete an IPO filing this year.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is reportedly planning a new fundraising round at a valuation of approximately 500 billion yuan ($74 billion), with plans for a potential initial public offering on Shanghai's STAR Market. This follows a significant fundraising round in June where the company secured about $7.4 billion at a valuation of 450 billion yuan.
The company is looking to raise as much as 50 billion yuan in the new round and has set an internal target to complete an IPO filing this year. DeepSeek has gained attention for its cost-effective AI models and is looking to double its staff, including in areas like data centers and AI agents, and is reportedly developing its own AI inference chip.
Previously, DeepSeek was largely bankrolled by its founder, Liang Wenfeng, through his hedge fund High-Flyer. However, the rising costs of competing in the AI sector have necessitated external financing. DeepSeek faces stiff competition from domestic tech giants like ByteDance and Alibaba, as well as other well-funded AI startups.
Investors in the June funding round included founder Liang personally, Tencent, CATL, China's national AI fund, NetEase, JD.com, and investment firms IDG Capital, Loyal Valley Capital, Monolith Management, and Shixiang Capital. The participation of the state-backed AI fund highlights DeepSeek's strategic importance to Beijing's efforts to foster domestic AI champions.