DeepSeek's new funding round has been set at roughly 100 billion yuan (about $15 billion). Bloomberg reported the figure on October 22, citing people familiar with the matter, and Reuters followed, saying the round is close to completion although details could still change. Tencent and CATL are among the largest contributors.
DeepSeek, Tencent and CATL did not respond to the reports. The amounts and investors below are as described by the sources cited by Bloomberg and Reuters.
The target was raised at least twice during negotiations: the initial plan was to raise 50 billion yuan, figures that surfaced in early October already pointed to 80 billion yuan, and the round finally landed at about 100 billion yuan. By Bloomberg's account, it is already one of the largest private fundraisings in China.
The valuation is a blank
Neither news agency gave a valuation for this round. The only reference points are earlier reports: on October 6, CNBC said DeepSeek was seeking a valuation of about 500 billion yuan (about $75 billion), and the June round, its first outside fundraising, carried a valuation of about 350 billion yuan according to investor documents.
CNBC also reported at the time that state-backed funds and industrial capital were competing for allocations in this round while private individual money was shut out. Geely Automobile, Monolith and Loyal Valley Capital were also on the list of committed investors. That list rests on CNBC's reporting alone; Bloomberg and Reuters did not confirm each name this time.
Running the numbers
Putting this year's two rounds side by side:
| Item | June first round | This round |
|---|---|---|
| Amount raised | About 50 billion yuan | About 100 billion yuan |
| Reported valuation | About 350 billion yuan | Not disclosed (about 500 billion yuan reported in early October) |
| Main investors | Liang Wenfeng, Tencent, CATL | Tencent, CATL |
In rough terms, DeepSeek has raised about 150 billion yuan in half a year, or about $21 billion. If this round is indeed priced at a 500 billion yuan valuation, the new money would correspond to roughly 20% of the equity; the June round at 350 billion yuan corresponds to about 14%. Stacked together, outside capital would hold around 30%. This is only an estimate based on the reported figures and does not account for any equity structure arrangements. In the June round, commercial investors did not receive voting rights, and the reports do not say whether that approach carries over this time.
Revenue figures remain thin. In August, reports disclosed that DeepSeek's revenue for the first seven months of this year was 475 million yuan. A single 100 billion yuan round is more than 200 times that figure, which suggests investors are not pricing the company on current revenue.
Where the money is going
According to the reports, the funds will go toward expanding AI data centers and continuing to develop open-source models for domestic and international markets. Earlier reports mentioned that DeepSeek is building a large data center in Inner Mongolia, with plans to deploy at least 160,000 domestically made high-end AI accelerators. What share of the 100 billion yuan will go to that single project cannot currently be verified.
On the listing front, DeepSeek hired CITIC Securities in September to provide pre-IPO guidance for a STAR Market listing. Reports in early October gave a window of early 2027, and this round's news does not update that timeline.
Product cadence is also moving the capital markets. After the release of V4.1 Flash in September, the Hong Kong-listed shares of MiniMax and Zhipu AI both fell, and the pressure DeepSeek's new models put on peers' valuations has become one of the variables in secondary-market trading.
Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, CocoLoop, CNBC, Dim Sum Daily. The round size and investors follow the accounts of Bloomberg's and Reuters' sources; the valuation and the list of committed investors follow CNBC's earlier reporting.