Key facts
- DeepSeek reportedly raised about $15 billion (100 billion yuan) on October 22, 2026.
- The funding round follows a U.S. order for federal agencies to remove DeepSeek's AI technology.
- Potential investors include CATL and Tencent, according to Bloomberg.
- DeepSeek raised over $7 billion in June at a $50 billion valuation.
- The company was reportedly seeking an additional $1.5 billion in July.
- DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng.
Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has reportedly raised approximately $15 billion, or 100 billion yuan, just two days after U.S. federal civilian agencies were ordered to remove its AI technology due to security concerns. This funding round is one of the largest in China, according to a Bloomberg report.
Potential investors in this round include Chinese battery maker CATL and Tencent, the company behind WeChat. This reported funding follows a previous investment round in June, where DeepSeek secured over $7 billion at a valuation of $50 billion. The company was also reportedly seeking an additional $1.5 billion in July at a valuation of around $71 billion, with potential plans for an IPO in China as early as next year.
The Hangzhou-based startup is increasing its spending on AI infrastructure and open models for both domestic and international markets, despite facing U.S. restrictions. This expansion is expected to intensify competition among Chinese AI rivals.
Other Chinese AI companies are also attracting significant investment. Moonshot AI, the developer of Kimi, secured $2 billion in May at a $20 billion valuation, and Manus AI raised over $500 million earlier this month. Zhipu AI and MiniMax, which went public in Hong Kong in January, have market capitalizations of approximately $29 billion and $7.2 billion, respectively.
DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, who previously co-founded the quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, which provided early financing for DeepSeek. The company gained international attention in early 2025 with its free-to-use, open-weight RI reasoning model, aiming to challenge the dominance of U.S. AI companies. Liang reportedly retains an 81.6% stake in its Chinese operating entity.