DeepSeek Funding Round Said to Hit a Massive $15bn Breakthrough
Quick Reads
- DeepSeek funding round reportedly reaches about 100bn yuan ($15bn), making it one of China’s largest private funding rounds.
- Tencent and battery maker CATL rank among the biggest investors, Bloomberg reports.
- Demand lifted the target from 50bn yuan to 80bn yuan, before the round closed near 100bn yuan.
- DeepSeek is preparing a possible stock market listing, and its cloud service already runs on Huawei chips.
- The US Department of Homeland Security ordered federal agencies to drop DeepSeek products two days earlier.
DeepSeek $15bn funding has reportedly closed, giving the Chinese AI lab one of the largest private rounds in China. Bloomberg reported the deal on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The round totals about 100bn yuan. Tencent, which owns WeChat, and battery maker CATL rank among the biggest investors. DeepSeek has not confirmed the raise, and The Next Web could not verify it independently.
Investor demand pushed the round far beyond its first target. DeepSeek initially aimed for 50bn yuan. It then lifted the goal to 80bn yuan, before closing near 100bn yuan. That climb signals strong appetite for the Hangzhou company.
The cash gives DeepSeek more room to challenge the leading US labs. Even so, it still trails rivals on spending power. OpenAI and Anthropic have each raised more than $100bn, according to Bloomberg.
DeepSeek first grabbed global attention in early 2025. It showed that strong AI models could cost a fraction of the usual price. That news triggered a sell-off in tech stocks. Since then, the company has spent more on data centres and open-source models, which anyone can download and adapt.
An IPO now looks closer. Bloomberg has previously reported that DeepSeek is preparing a possible stock market listing. Meanwhile, its cloud service already runs on chips from China’s Huawei, despite US export limits.
This marks DeepSeek’s second outside round this year. It raised more than $7bn in June. A month later, it sought fresh money at a valuation near $71bn. Liang Wenfeng founded DeepSeek in 2023. He also co-founded the hedge fund High-Flyer, which funded much of the lab’s early work.
The DeepSeek $15bn funding also lands amid fresh US scrutiny. Two days earlier, the US Department of Homeland Security ordered federal agencies to stop buying DeepSeek products. The order also tells agencies to remove the products from their systems. It cites national security concerns, including the risk that Chinese authorities could reach US government data.
