Report: DeepSeek Completes Approximately RMB 100 Billion Financing Round, With CATL and Tencent Participating
Sina, citing media reports, says DeepSeek has completed approximately RMB 100 billion (about USD 15 billion) in financing, with the target raised during negotiations from RMB 50 billion to RMB 80 billion and then to approximately RMB 100 billion. CATL plans to invest an additional approximately RMB 10 billion, and Tencent is also one of the largest investors in this round; the new investors are mainly industrial institutions such as Shixi Capital, SMIC Capital, Legend Capital, and Geely. DeepSeek is also advancing a STAR Market IPO, planning to file as early as the end of this year with a target listing in 2027, and Yan Wentao took office as CFO in late September.
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The financing target was raised from RMB 50 billion to approximately RMB 100 billion within half a month, with investors shifting toward industrial institutions; DeepSeek's capital pace and IPO preparations are worth watching.
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DeepSeek completed two large-scale funding rounds in less than six months, placing it among the largest funding projects in China's primary market this year.
On October 22, Sina cited media reports saying that large-model company DeepSeek completed about 100 billion yuan in funding, equivalent to about $15 billion. During negotiations with investors, it raised its funding target at least twice—initially 50 billion yuan, then 80 billion yuan, and finally about 100 billion yuan, doubling in less than half a month.
According to reports, this round of funding immediately placed DeepSeek among the AI companies with the largest funding scale globally. However, compared with Anthropic and OpenAI, this figure still leaves an obvious gap—the two U.S. companies have each cumulatively raised more than $100 billion.
Caijing previously mentioned that CATL and Tencent are among the largest investors in this round, with CATL planning to increase its investment by about 10 billion yuan in this round, adding again to its 5 billion yuan contribution in the first round.
After this round is completed, DeepSeek's cumulative funding scale within half a year will reach about 150 billion yuan. At the same time, the company is accelerating its STAR Market IPO and is also making moves in the embodied intelligence sector. According to reports, founder Liang Wenfeng is considering personally forming a team to enter research and development, or entering the track by investing in related companies.
Funding scale doubles within two weeks; industrial players dominate the new round's investor structure
In April this year, DeepSeek launched its first funding round, raising more than 50 billion yuan at an overall valuation of more than 350 billion yuan, and completed settlement at the end of June. It then launched a new round in July, with a pre-money valuation rising to about 500 billion yuan.
During negotiations for this round, the funding target was raised multiple times—initially set at 50 billion yuan, then raised to 80 billion yuan, and finally set at about 100 billion yuan, with new and existing shareholders each accounting for about half of the planned investment amount.
In terms of investor structure, compared with the first round, the new investors in this round are mainly industrial institutions. According to reports, the new entrants include Shixi Capital, SMIC Capital, CPE Yuanfeng, Legend Capital, Geely and others.
Shixi Capital was initiated and established by the investment team of storage chip leader GigaDevice and focuses on integrated circuit design and semiconductor materials; Legend Capital is an investment platform under Legend Holdings. Existing shareholders IDG Capital, Lisi Capital and Shixiang Capital are also on the transaction list for this round.
In the new funding round, Liang Wenfeng clearly favored bringing in large institutions that can empower DeepSeek across the upstream and downstream industrial chain. In recent months, DeepSeek has intensively carried out cooperation with upstream and downstream companies in chips, embodied intelligence and other areas, including participating in ChangXin Technology's IPO subscription in July and spending 141 million yuan in August to participate in Unitree Technology's IPO strategic placement.
Accelerating IPO, filling CFO vacancy
DeepSeek is simultaneously advancing its STAR Market listing process.
According to a previous Caijing report, since late August, DeepSeek has actively approached multiple investment banks to prepare for listing, planning to file as soon as the end of this year with a target of listing in 2027.
To comply with IPO regulatory requirements, the company has adjusted its investment structure. According to reports, starting at the end of September, the sponsor broker assisted DeepSeek in reviewing investor backgrounds and required some special funds to be adjusted to blind-pool filings, so as to ensure that when filing, the fund is counted as one shareholder, avoiding the red line of 200 shareholders caused by look-through consolidation of underlying LPs, while also reducing pressure from regulatory inquiries.
Near the end of the funding round, DeepSeek also filled the CFO vacancy. According to multiple media reports, Yan Wentao, former partner at Hillhouse Venture Capital, joined DeepSeek in late September as CFO. Yan Wentao previously worked at Tencent Investment and H Capital, and has project investment experience with technology companies such as ByteDance, MiniMax and Zhipu. Risk disclosure and disclaimer
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