DeepSeek's second funding round details revealed: raised 105.5 billion yuan, with nearly 30 institutions including Tencent and ChangXin Memory Technologies participating
According to The Information, DeepSeek's second funding round has raised 105.5 billion yuan (approximately 15.8 billion US dollars), attracting nearly 30 investors, with state-owned capital contributing about 27%, a sharp increase from 2% in the first round. Tencent invested 10 billion yuan in each of the two rounds; CATL and its chairman Zeng Yuqun invested 5 billion yuan and 10 billion yuan in the two rounds respectively; and industrial parties such as ChangXin Memory Technologies, SMIC, vivo, Meituan, Geely, Midea, Luxshare Precision, Trip.com, and Xiaohongshu are also among the investors. The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said that rising prices for Nvidia's high-end chips and concerns about an AI bubble were the reasons DeepSeek doubled the size of its fundraising midway.
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The funding details disclose the composition of investors and changes in the share of state-owned capital, which can be used to observe DeepSeek's capital structure and the extent of industrial-party participation.
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On October 30, according to The Information, the specific details of DeepSeek's second round of financing were revealed. This round of financing has raised 105.5 billion yuan (approximately US$15.8 billion), attracting nearly 30 investors, of which state-owned capital accounted for about 27%, a significant increase from 2% in the first round of financing.
In terms of investors, Tencent Holdings (00700.HK) and CATL (300750.SZ) remain the two major investors. Tencent contributed 10 billion yuan in each of the two rounds, while CATL and its chairman Zeng Yuqun contributed 5 billion yuan and 10 billion yuan in the two rounds respectively. Other industrial investors also include ChangXin Memory Technologies, SMIC (688981.SH), vivo, Meituan-WR (83690.HK), Geely Automobile (00175.HK), Midea Group (000333.SZ), Luxshare Precision (002475.SZ), Trip.com (TCOM.US), and Xiaohongshu, among others, with some companies investing between 1 billion and 3 billion yuan each.
Caiwen asked Tencent about investment-related matters, but as of press time, no response had been received.
On the state-owned side, the China National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund invested another 1 billion yuan in this round, the same amount as in the first round. Institutions such as China Mobile (600941.SH), China Telecom (601728.SH), CICC (601995.SH), CITIC Securities (600030.SH), and China Life (601628.SH) also participated in the investment, with each contributing between 2 billion and 8 billion yuan. According to The Information, state-owned investors accounted for about 27% of this round's contributions, and about 19% cumulatively across the two rounds.
In addition, VC institutions also participated. Beijing Monolith Management invested 3 billion yuan and 7.5 billion yuan in the two rounds respectively, IDG Capital invested a cumulative 6.5 billion yuan across the two rounds, and Boyu Capital invested 3.5 billion yuan in the second round.
In terms of the cumulative amount across the two rounds of financing, technology companies contributed about 42%, state-owned investors accounted for about 19%, followed by venture capital and private equity institutions.
Regarding the expansion of the financing scale, The Information cited informed sources as saying that the continued rise in prices of Nvidia (NVDA.US) high-end chips and concerns about an AI industry bubble are the reasons DeepSeek doubled its fundraising scale midway.
It is worth noting that DeepSeek's first round of financing adopted a special investment arrangement. Apart from the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, other investors were required to put their funds into an entity held by Liang Wenfeng, give up voting rights, and commit to locking up their shares for five years unless DeepSeek lists early.
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