“SHANGHAI. Chinese AI company DeepSeek is on the verge of raising capital from external investors for the first time. By carefully selecting its investors, the start-up is positioning itself—both strategically and geopolitically—as a national champion of artificial intelligence. Until now, DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has self-funded the company through his fund, High-Flyer.
Specifically, according to consistent reports from news agencies Reuters and Bloomberg, DeepSeek is raising around 50 billion renminbi (just under 6.4 billion euros). Its valuation is reportedly between 350 and 400 billion renminbi—equivalent to 45 to 50 billion euros. This marks one of the largest funding rounds in Chinese business history. However, these figures remain far below the valuations of American competitors such as Anthropic or OpenAI.
According to reports, founder Liang is investing 20 billion renminbi himself, while 30 billion renminbi is coming from external investors. Digital tech company Tencent—the force behind the Chinese app WeChat, which has been lagging behind other Chinese tech giants in its AI efforts—is contributing 10 billion. Battery manufacturer CATL is investing 5 billion renminbi in the start-up. Reports suggest that JD.com (an investor in MediaMarktSaturn) and China’s national AI fund could also come on board in the future. None of the mentioned parties have commented on the investment so far. Foreign investors are not involved, according to the reports.
The participation of the national AI fund "cements DeepSeek’s status as a national champion," says Sigrid Wang, a technology analyst at the Chinese consultancy Hutong Research. Tencent could help distribute DeepSeek thanks to its vast reach, while CATL could assist with infrastructure, given that energy supply is the biggest constraint for AI developers.
DeepSeek has recently struggled with an exodus of key developers. Many reportedly left for Xiaomi and ByteDance because they received equity with a defined valuation there, says Wang. "Deepseek couldn't offer that until now because its own shares lacked a valuation." That is now changing. Founder Liang retains control of 70 percent of the company.
Deepseek is the best-known Chinese AI start-up. Early last year, the Hangzhou-based company caused a stir in global technology markets with an artificial intelligence system capable of competing with global rivals. Some investors even spoke of China’s "Sputnik moment." Since then, however, the start-up has lost ground to the global leaders; subsequent models failed to generate a similar level of excitement. Nevertheless, the "Deepseek effect" has become something of a household term in China and has significantly improved the global perception of the country's capacity for innovation.” [1]
1. Milliarden für Chinas KI-Champion Deepseek: Ausländische Investoren kommen nicht zum Zug. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 05 June 2026: 22. guth.
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