DeepSeek has raised about 100 billion yuan (about $15 billion, or Php 950 billion) in its latest funding round, one of the largest China has ever seen, Bloomberg reports. Battery maker CATL and WeChat operator Tencent were among the biggest investors, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Hangzhou-based AI lab reportedly raised its target at least twice as it talked with investors before reaching the final tally, double what it first set out to raise. Bloomberg calls the round a sign of DeepSeek’s ambitions to compete globally with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic.
Reuters, citing four people of its own, puts the round at the same 100 billion yuan but says it’s still wrapping up. Two of them name CATL and Tencent among the biggest investors too. Another says the round should close in the coming days, though the financial details and the investor lineup could still change.
Appliance maker Midea, food delivery giant Meituan, carmaker Geely and chipmaker GigaDevice join as new investors, according to the report. Many of the backers have the state or a big company behind them, as China tries to get ahead of the US in AI, Reuters adds.
This new funding round puts DeepSeek’s value at 500 billion yuan (about $75 billion, or Php 4.7 trillion), and that’s before the new money comes in. Its September report has the lab hiring CITIC Securities to prepare for a possible listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market.
In January 2025, fears over DeepSeek’s cheap model set off a sell-off that wiped $593 billion (about Php 37.6 trillion) off NVIDIA’s market value in a day, a Wall Street record at the time. Spending less, it turns out, was never a vow of poverty.
