DeepSeek is finalizing a new funding round of at least 80 billion yuan (roughly $12 billion), according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter. The round was originally meant to raise around 50 billion yuan, but demand surged after the company's latest model release, and based on term sheets already signed, the final total could approach 100 billion yuan. Tencent and battery maker CATL are putting in the most money.
The round values DeepSeek at no less than 500 billion yuan (about $75 billion). Bloomberg's report says that once the financing closes, DeepSeek plans to restructure its corporate setup to prepare for a listing in early 2027. DeepSeek has not publicly responded to the report, and the exact amount and valuation currently rest on Bloomberg's sourcing.
The round four months ago
DeepSeek closed its previous funding round this past June — the first time it had taken outside capital since its founding — raising roughly 50 billion yuan. The structure was unusual: founder Liang Wenfeng put in about 20 billion yuan of his own money, Tencent contributed roughly 10 billion yuan, and CATL added about 5 billion yuan, with JD.com, NetEase and state-backed funds also participating. Money from the commercial investors went into a limited partnership managed by Liang, locked up for five years without voting rights.
Reports at the time pegged that round's valuation anywhere between $52 billion and $59 billion.
In September, DeepSeek brought in CITIC Securities to guide a listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, with the timing, valuation and offering size still undecided at that point. Bloomberg's latest report is the first to put a window on it: early 2027.
Doing the math on the money
Lay the two rounds side by side and the numbers move in one direction.
| June round | This round (as reported) | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount raised | ~50 billion yuan | At least 80 billion yuan, possibly near 100 billion |
| Valuation | ~$52B-$59B | No less than $75B |
| Lead investors | Liang Wenfeng, Tencent, CATL | Tencent, CATL |
By rough math, the valuation has climbed somewhere between 27% and 44% in four months, depending on which figure from the earlier round you use as a baseline. If this round ultimately lands at 100 billion yuan, DeepSeek's combined fundraising for the year would reach around 150 billion yuan.
Where the money is headed is at least partly clear: DeepSeek is building a large data center in Inner Mongolia, planned to house at least 160,000 domestically made high-end AI accelerators, and some of this round's funds are earmarked for that project. The report doesn't disclose the price per chip or the data center's total cost, so how much of the 80 billion yuan will actually flow into this one project can't be verified.
There's not much to compare it against on the revenue side. An August report disclosed that DeepSeek's revenue over its first seven months this year was 475 million yuan, with losses widening to 715 million yuan. For a company whose annual revenue is still in the hundreds of millions, raising money at a 500-billion-yuan valuation suggests investors are betting on its model capabilities and listing prospects — not on what it's currently bringing in.
Why investors are doubling down
The report attributes the oversubscription to DeepSeek's newly released V4-Flash model. The V4 series launched in April this year, and three days after release the company cut V4-Pro's API pricing by 75%. It has stuck with low pricing and open-weight releases to win users ever since, and Flash continues that same playbook.
Tencent was already the largest commercial investor after the founder in the previous round, and it's leading again this time. CATL, a battery maker, is doubling down for a second consecutive round, though the report doesn't explain its specific reasoning. Whether the five-year lockup and no-voting-rights terms from the last round carry over to this one also isn't addressed in Bloomberg's reporting.
Sources: Bloomberg, CocoLoop, IT Home, The Next Web. The funding amount, original target, valuation and listing timeline are based on Bloomberg's sourcing; details of the previous round draw on earlier public reporting.