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DeepSeek is raising about $15B at a roughly $75B pre-money valuation, with CATL, Tencent, Meituan and Geely among backers ahead of a possible 2027 IPO.
Key Takeaways
- DeepSeek is raising about 100 billion yuan ($15B) at a pre-money valuation of 500 billion yuan, roughly $74-75B.
- The round is not closed; Reuters reported investor lineup and terms could still change.
- CATL, Tencent, Meituan, Geely, Midea and NetEase are among 15-plus reported investors.
Lead
DeepSeek, the Hangzhou-based AI developer, is wrapping up a fundraising of about 100 billion yuan ($14.98B) at a pre-money valuation of 500 billion yuan, or roughly $75B, Reuters reported on October 22, 2026. The round has not formally closed, and Reuters noted that financial details and the investor list are not final. Bloomberg separately reported the $15B figure.
The company lifted its target at least twice during the process, from 50 billion yuan to 80 billion and then to 100 billion yuan. That is double the original ask. No lead investor has been named.
Who Is Investing in DeepSeek's Round?
The reported investor list has more than 15 names and leans heavily toward Chinese industrial and consumer groups. Battery maker CATL and WeChat operator Tencent, both existing shareholders, are described as the largest participants. Chipmaker GigaDevice, food delivery company Meituan, automaker Geely, appliance maker Midea and existing shareholder NetEase are also on the list.
Financial firms include Boyu Capital, CPE, Legend Capital and IDG Capital. The mix matters. Strategic investors from batteries, cars, chips and consumer apps are buying proximity to a model developer, not just financial exposure.
How Does This Round Compare With DeepSeek's Last One?
The valuation is up about 43% in roughly four months. In June 2026, DeepSeek raised its first external round, about $7.4B, at 350.88 billion yuan (around $52B) based on investor filings. TechCrunch put that round at over $7B and a $50B valuation.
A step from roughly 351 billion yuan to 500 billion yuan pre-money, with the check size doubling, shows demand outrunning supply. It also invites caution. DeepSeek is a company that spent its first two years without outside capital, and its valuation has now been set twice in a single year by investors who are mostly strategic partners rather than disciplined price-setters. Adding the new money implies a post-money value near 600 billion yuan.
Why Is DeepSeek Raising This Much Now?
Compute and talent are the obvious uses, though the company has not disclosed how it will allocate the proceeds. Frontier model training in China is constrained by chip supply, and a $15B balance sheet buys domestic accelerators, data centers and researchers at a scale the company has not previously had.
The second driver is the listing. Reports in September said DeepSeek had hired CITIC Securities to prepare for a possible STAR Market listing in Shanghai, with a debut as early as 2027. A large pre-IPO round with industrial shareholders sets a valuation floor and a base of long-term holders before bankers price the shares.
The company's most recent model, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash, was released last month. It continues the open-source approach that made the company known globally.
What Does the US Pressure Mean for the Round?
The raise landed two days after the US ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek's AI technology from their systems over security concerns. That order restricts a US government customer base DeepSeek was never likely to win, so its direct revenue effect looks small. The bigger risk is secondary: wider export, procurement or data-handling limits that raise costs for any foreign user of DeepSeek models.
Chinese investors appear unmoved. The round's growth during the same period suggests that domestic backers read the restrictions as confirmation of strategic value, not as a reason to discount. That reading holds only while the company can keep sourcing compute.
What Comes Next for DeepSeek?
Reuters said the round should complete in the coming days. If it does, DeepSeek will have raised roughly $22B across two rounds in about five months, a figure that puts it among the best-funded AI developers outside the US. Founder Liang Wenfeng holds an estimated 81.6% stake in the Chinese operating entity, and a round of this size dilutes that holding, though by how much has not been disclosed.
Three things bear watching: whether a named lead investor emerges, whether the final valuation holds near 500 billion yuan pre-money, and whether the STAR Market filing arrives on the 2027 timeline. A slip on any of them would change how the round reads.
Outlook
DeepSeek's reported raise of about $15B at a roughly $75B pre-money valuation would nearly double the size of its June round and lift its value by about 43%. The backers are mostly Chinese strategic investors, and the terms remain unconfirmed until the round closes. The next marker is the close itself, followed by progress toward a Shanghai listing that could come in 2027.
