DeepSeek

Artificial Intelligence · China Tech

Funding

DeepSeek raises $15B round co-led by CATL and Tencent ahead of Shanghai IPO

Investors span Chinese battery, EV and consumer giants rather than typical venture firms, signaling a state-aligned supply chain bet on frontier AI.

• DeepSeek has raised roughly 100 billion yuan (about $15 billion), with battery maker CATL and Tencent as the biggest backers, according to people familiar with the matter.
• DeepSeek is a Hangzhou-based AI startup known for low-cost, high-performing open-source language models that rattled US tech markets when it first launched.
• New investors include home appliance maker Midea, food-delivery giant Meituan, automaker Geely and chipmaker GigaDevice, joining existing backers IDG Capital, Boyu Capital, CPE and Legend Capital, with over 15 investors total.
• DeepSeek raised its target twice, from 50 billion yuan to 80 billion yuan and finally to about 100 billion yuan, doubling its original goal as investor demand surged.
• The company has hired CITIC Securities to prepare a potential listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, following last month's release of its DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash model built for faster inference and larger-scale training.
• The raise lands amid a broader Chinese AI funding wave, with rival Moonshot AI reportedly nearing a $50 billion valuation and pursuing its own Hong Kong IPO.
• The round's heavy tilt toward Chinese industrial and state-linked capital rather than foreign venture money underscores Beijing's drive to fund an AI champion that can compete with US labs without relying on Western financing.