DeepSeek Raises $15 Billion Days After US Federal Ban — China's Biggest AI Funding Round

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is wrapping up a funding round of about 100 billion yuan — roughly $15 billion — one of the largest AI raises in China's history. Four people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday that more than 15 investors are backing the round, with battery giant CATL and WeChat operator Tencent among the biggest names.
New backers include appliance maker Midea, food-delivery giant Meituan, automaker Geely and chipmaker GigaDevice, alongside investment firms Boyu Capital, CPE and Legend Capital and existing shareholder IDG Capital. The round doubled DeepSeek's original 50-billion-yuan target and values the company at 500 billion yuan before new money comes in, with a close expected in the coming days.
The timing is impossible to miss: the raise landed just two days after the United States ordered federal civilian agencies to strip DeepSeek technology from their systems over security concerns, a move Beijing condemned as its commerce ministry threatened "all necessary measures." DeepSeek plans to spend the cash on data centers and open-source models, released its DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash model last month, and hired CITIC Securities in September to prepare for a possible STAR Market IPO — the clearest sign yet that China's AI champion is racing toward the public markets.
Source: read more
Comments
Post a Comment