Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek has raised about US$15 billion in its latest private funding round, giving it substantially more financial firepower as it prepares for a potential initial public offering (IPO) and intensifies its challenge to leading US AI developers.
According to The Wall Street Journal, DeepSeek nearly doubled its initial fundraising target as investor interest pushed the round to around US$15 billion. The financing, which ran from July through October, valued the company at approximately US$74 billion before the latest round. Existing investors, including Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and Tencent, participated, alongside new backers such as semiconductor-focused private-equity firm Stony Creek Capital, Legend Capital, and automaker Geely.
Bloomberg reported that DeepSeek increased its target from CNY50 billion (approx. US$7.5 billion) to CNY80 billion before ultimately securing about CNY100 billion. The funding is among China's largest startup financing rounds and underscores investor expectations for DeepSeek's global ambitions.
DeepSeek is reportedly accelerating preparations for a Shanghai listing, potentially targeting early 2027. The company has hired Citic Securities as an IPO adviser and recruited former venture capitalist Wentao Yan as chief financial officer in September.
The fundraising comes as DeepSeek seeks to scale computing infrastructure and reduce its reliance on foreign chips. The company reportedly continues to use Nvidia processors for its most demanding AI training while working with Huawei to shift more workloads to domestic chips.
DeepSeek is also reportedly spending more aggressively on AI data centers and open-source models for domestic and overseas users. Its low-cost, high-performance models have intensified competition among Chinese AI companies while putting pressure on US players, including OpenAI and Anthropic.
DeepSeek's latest financing also highlights the widening capital race in AI. While the company remains considerably smaller financially than leading US labs, which have each raised more than US$100 billion, its latest funding could strengthen its position as China's most prominent challenger in the global AI market.
Article edited by Jack Wu
