DeepSeek has successfully secured $12 billion in its latest funding round, significantly exceeding its initial target of 50 billion yuan. The company is now nearing a funding round of at least 80 billion yuan ($11.93 billion), according to Bloomberg News citing people familiar with the matter. The funding round represents one of the largest venture rounds in recent memory, with the potential to reach 100 billion yuan as reported by Phemex News. Based on signed term sheets, the final tally could approach $15 billion, with the funding round closing soon. This represents a significant increase from the company's original target, as the startup prepares for its planned initial public offering in early 2027.
Battery pioneer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) and WeChat-operator Tencent Holdings Ltd. have committed among the largest amounts in the current financing round. As reported by Bloomberg News, Tencent previously landed the biggest investment in the startup at 10 billion yuan in a previous round of financing, while CATL committed approximately $740 million in an earlier round. The participation from these major investors pushes DeepSeek's valuation to at least $71 billion, with one estimate putting the possible valuation at this level. The expanded capital raise will fund computing infrastructure expansion, AI model development, and team growth as DeepSeek prepares for its anticipated public market debut.
DeepSeek plans to build a data center in Inner Mongolia that would use at least 160,000 Huawei Ascend 950DT accelerators. This hardware buildout represents a major destination for the new capital raised in the latest funding round, alongside continued model development following the launch of its V4 Flash model. According to Bloomberg News, the company has publicly released software created with Huawei to program AI chips, marking a foray into a new arena in close partnership with the hardware leader. Founder Liang Wenfeng has pledged to continue developing open AI models while pursuing broader goals of achieving artificial general intelligence.
The funding sets the stage for one of the most highly anticipated Chinese market debuts in years, with DeepSeek targeting an IPO in early 2027. As reported by Phemex News, the company has gained global recognition for its low-cost, high-performance AI models and is accelerating investment in next-generation AI technologies and computational resources to support its pre-IPO development strategy. The $12 billion+ funding round provides substantial capital for the company's growth plans, with the next step being to restructure the company to prepare for the public listing.
Liang Wenfeng's net worth more than doubled to around $36 billion when DeepSeek closed its first round of external fundraising this summer. The AI startup grew as an offshoot from his hedge fund High-Flyer, which provided much of the initial support. Liang contributed again in the previous 50-billion-yuan round, which valued DeepSeek at roughly 350 billion yuan at the time. The current funding round, exceeding the initial target, further strengthens the company's position ahead of its planned public market debut, positioning it among the most valuable AI companies globally.
