Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek is in preliminary talks with investors to raise as much as 50 billion yuan in a second funding round, just weeks after closing its first external financing. The new discussions center on a pre-money valuation near $71 billion, a 37% step-up from the prior round.
Founder Liang Wenfeng began speaking with potential investors earlier in July about the fresh round. In the first round, DeepSeek raised approximately $7.4 billion with backing from Tencent Holdings, JD.com, NetEase, CATL, and China's state-backed national AI fund, with Liang himself contributing roughly $3 billion as the largest investor.
The company has set an internal target to complete an IPO filing in 2026 and is exploring a listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market as early as the second quarter of 2027. Liang previously bankrolled DeepSeek through his quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer before seeking external capital, warning in May that insufficient funding could cost the company top talent and computing infrastructure.