Summary Chinese AI startup DeepSeek plans a new funding round and is considering a mainland IPO as competition drives rising investment needs.
HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek is planning a new fundraising round at a valuation of approximately 500 billion yuan ($74 billion) as it explores a potential initial public offering (IPO) on mainland China's STAR Market, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Hangzhou-based company aims to raise as much as 50 billion yuan in the new funding round, which follows a 7.4 billion-dollar capital raise completed in June at a post-money valuation of around 450 billion yuan, sources said.
DeepSeek has also begun early discussions on listing on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR Market and has reportedly set an internal target of filing for an IPO before the end of the year. However, sources cautioned that both the fundraising and listing plans remain at an early stage and could change.
The latest fundraising initiative reflects strong investor confidence in one of China's most closely watched AI companies, while also highlighting the rapidly increasing costs of developing advanced AI models, including investment in computing power, data centres and engineering talent.
DeepSeek gained international attention in 2025 after releasing low-cost AI models that appeared to rival leading US systems at significantly lower training and operating costs. Following its June fundraising, the company announced plans to double its workforce, particularly in data centres and AI agent development.
Reuters previously reported that DeepSeek is also developing its own AI inference chip and has stepped up recruitment of semiconductor design engineers to support the project.
Founded by Liang Wenfeng, DeepSeek initially relied on funding from his quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer before accepting outside investment. The company's latest funding round reportedly attracted major investors including Tencent, CATL, China's national AI fund, NetEase, JD.com and several investment firms, underscoring Beijing's support for building globally competitive domestic AI champions.
