DeepSeek completes over $7 billion in financing, with a valuation exceeding $50 billion

According to The Information, DeepSeek has completed a record financing of over $7 billion, valuing the company at over $50 billion in this round of financing.

In terms of funding sources, founder Liang Wenfeng personally invested 20 billion yuan, Tencent invested 10 billion yuan, CATL invested 5 billion yuan, and JD.com, NetEase, and IDG Capital each invested 3 billion yuan. The only exception is the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund of China, which directly invested 1 billion yuan in DeepSeek, not only holding voting rights but also not subject to a 5-year lock-up period. Aside from the national-level fund, external investors have no voting rights and can only access specific financial information and enjoy priority investment rights in subsequent financing.

The new round of financing marks a significant shift in DeepSeek's operating model. Since its establishment in 2023, DeepSeek, as the AI team under Huansuan Quantitative, has relied on its own funds for operations and maintained research independence due to a lack of commercialization pressure. However, under pressure to retain funding and talent, Liang Wenfeng and the team initiated financing in April and conducted strict due diligence on the limited partners behind the investors to prevent equity from falling into the hands of unknown investors.