China’s DeepSeek raises $15 billion, Bloomberg reports

Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has raised about 100 billion yuan ($15 billion), according to Bloomberg News, which said it is one of the largest fundraisings in China's history. Bloomberg reported that the Hangzhou-based company raised its target at least twice during talks with investors, first from 50 billion yuan to 80 billion yuan, before reaching the final amount. Battery maker CATL Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited and WeChat operator Tencent were among the largest investors, the people said.reuters.com

The round gives DeepSeek much more money to compete with US frontier labs, though it remains far behind them. Anthropic and OpenAI have each raised more than $100 billion, Bloomberg noted.reuters.com

New backers join the round

Reuters reported on Thursday, citing four people familiar with the matter, that DeepSeek is wrapping up the round. Appliance maker Midea, food delivery company Meituan, automaker Geely and chipmaker GigaDevice are joining as new investors, according to the Reuters report. Boyu Capital, CPE, Legend Capital and existing shareholder IDG Capital are also taking part. One source said more than 15 investors are in the round. The deal values DeepSeek at 500 billion yuan before the new money comes in.bworldonline.com

The round is expected to close in the coming days, but one person told Reuters that the financial terms and the list of investors could still change. DeepSeek, CATL and Tencent did not respond to requests for comment from either Reuters or Bloomberg. The company has not confirmed the raise itself.reuters.com

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that DeepSeek was close to securing at least 80 billion yuan, TechNode noted. Those reports said the company plans to restructure after the round closes and to deploy at least 160,000 Huawei accelerators at a data center in Inner Mongolia.ground.news

Preparing for a public listing

The funding brings DeepSeek closer to the stock market. In September, Reuters reported that the company had hired CITIC Securities to prepare for a possible initial public offering on Shanghai's STAR Market, the Reuters report said. Bloomberg said the listing would be one of the most anticipated Chinese market debuts in years.bworldonline.com+1

DeepSeek set off a $1 trillion sell-off in global markets in 2025, when it showed it could compete with Silicon Valley leaders at a fraction of their costs. It has since spent more on AI data centers and open-source models. When it released V4.1 Flash in September, shares of local rivals such as MiniMax fell, Bloomberg reported. Reuters said the size of the round reflects strong demand from investors, many of them backed by the state and big corporations, as China tries to get ahead of the United States in AI, according to its report.bloomberg.com+1