DeepSeek Raises $15B at $74B Valuation
DeepSeek raised $15 billion at a $74 billion valuation, nearly doubling its target, as the Chinese AI lab speeds up plans for a Shanghai IPO in early 2027.
DeepSeek has raised about $15 billion in its second private funding round, nearly doubling its original target thanks to strong investor demand. The raise, one of the biggest ever in China's AI sector, values the Hangzhou-based lab at roughly $74 billion before the new money arrives.
A round twice as big as planned
DeepSeek originally set out to raise around 50 billion yuan, about $7.5 billion. Investor demand pushed the total to nearly 100 billion yuan, roughly $15 billion, from more than 15 investors. The round ran from July through this month, taking longer than most recent AI fundraisings as talks kept pulling in new backers. The deal would lift DeepSeek's post-money valuation to nearly $89 billion. It comes just four months after the company raised more than $7 billion at a $50 billion valuation in June, meaning DeepSeek has now pulled in over $22 billion in private funding this year.
Who backed the round
The investor list reads like a who's who of Chinese industry. Battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and tech giant Tencent were among the biggest backers, with both having invested in a previous round. Automaker Geely, chipmaker GigaDevice, food delivery company Meituan, appliance maker Midea, and NetEase also took part, alongside IDG Capital, Legend Capital, Boyu Capital, and new backer Stony Creek Capital, a semiconductor-focused private equity firm. Existing shareholders Monolith Management and Shixiang added fresh capital too. The mix of backers shows how China's industrial champions are now bankrolling its AI race. The money is no longer just coming from venture capital: battery, car, chip, and appliance companies are all in.
IPO plans accelerate
DeepSeek is speeding up plans for a public listing in Shanghai as early as 2027, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The company has hired state-owned investment bank Citic Securities to advise on the IPO and brought on former venture capitalist Yan Wentao as chief financial officer in September. If the timeline holds, DeepSeek could reach the public markets before OpenAI and fellow Chinese AI developer Moonshot AI. Its local rivals Zhipu AI and MiniMax already listed in Hong Kong this January.
Fundraising in the shadow of a US ban
The round closed just two days after the United States ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek's technology from their systems over security concerns. The timing underlines a split reality: Washington is moving to shut DeepSeek out of American systems while Chinese capital floods in at record levels. Despite the restrictions, DeepSeek keeps pushing its low-cost open model strategy. It recently open-sourced its DeepInfer serving engine, betting that cheap per-token economics will win market share even as US curbs on advanced chips continue.
Revenue is climbing fast
Founder Liang Wenfeng told investors in September that DeepSeek's annualized revenue run rate had reached $1 billion, more than double the $400 to $500 million reported in July. The growth is driven by cloud access to its models through APIs, where the company reportedly keeps gross margins of 70 to 80 percent on its flagship V4 model while charging less than US rivals. In August, DeepSeek introduced peak-hour pricing that increased rates roughly fourfold. Even so, it remains cheaper than most major competitors, and annualized revenue does not yet equal profitability as the company keeps spending heavily on computing infrastructure.
Sources
• Wall Street Journal - https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chinese-ai-startup-deekseek-raises-15-billion-ahead-of-potential-ipo-f7fe3a49 • TechCrunch - https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/22/deepseek-reportedly-raises-15b-days-after-us-restrictions/ • PYMNTS - https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/deepseek-raises-15-billion-ahead-of-planned-shanghai-ipo/ • Tech Startups - https://techstartups.com/2026/10/22/deepseek-raises-15-billion-at-74-billion-valuation-backed-by-tencent-catl-and-chinese-tech-giants/
Source: Wall Street Journal; TechCrunch; PYMNTS; Tech Startups ↗