DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup, is finishing a funding round that has raised about 100 billion yuan ($14.98 billion) from existing and new investors, according to four people familiar with it. Bloomberg reported the $15 billion raise first, naming battery maker CATL and Tencent as the main backers.
Two of the sources put CATL and Tencent among the largest investors. New names include Midea, Meituan, Geely and GigaDevice, alongside Boyu Capital, CPE, Legend Capital and existing shareholder IDG Capital. One source counts more than 15 investors. The pre-money valuation is 500 billion yuan, and the round is double the 50 billion yuan first targeted.
The sources asked not to be named because the details are confidential, and said the lineup and figures could still change. DeepSeek, CATL and Tencent could not be reached for comment. It should complete within days.
About DeepSeek
DeepSeek began as an AGI research lab announced by the hedge fund High-Flyer on 14 April 2023, and became an independent company on 17 July 2023 with High-Flyer as principal investor. Venture capital firms were initially reluctant to fund it, doubting a quick exit, so High-Flyer owned and funded it.
On 20 January 2025 it launched its chatbot with the DeepSeek-R1 model, and by 27 January the app had overtaken ChatGPT as the most downloaded free iOS app in the US, a day that coincided with an 18% fall in Nvidia's share price.
2023
Founded
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Models indexed
Models on AIPopDB
DeepSeek released its DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash model last month. In September it was reported to have hired CITIC Securities to prepare a possible STAR Market IPO.
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