DeepSeek, the Hangzhou lab whose low-cost models jolted global markets in 2025, has pulled in about 100 billion yuan, or roughly $15 billion, in its latest funding round, according to reports published on October 22. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said the round is one of the largest fundraisings ever by a Chinese company. Reuters, quoting two people with knowledge of the deal, described DeepSeek as wrapping up the round and said it should be complete in the coming days, though financial details could still change.
The amount grew as talks went on. Bloomberg's sources said DeepSeek raised its target at least twice, from 50 billion yuan to 80 billion yuan, before settling on the final figure. Battery maker CATL and Tencent, the operator of WeChat, were among the biggest investors, according to both outlets. Chinese financial media cited by Wallstreetcn reported that CATL plans to put in about 10 billion yuan this time, roughly double its stake in the first round. DeepSeek, CATL and Tencent did not respond to requests for comment.
This is the company's second large raise in a few months. DeepSeek only began taking outside money this year: CNBC reported in early October that its first external round, which closed in June, brought in about 50 billion yuan, and that the company was seeking a valuation of around 500 billion yuan, about $75 billion, for the current round. CNBC's sources also said DeepSeek was vetting investors closely, favouring state-backed and corporate funds and turning away vehicles that pool money from individuals.
The money is expected to pay for compute and research. Bloomberg reports that DeepSeek has started spending more aggressively on AI data centers and on open-source models for users in China and abroad. Its most recent release, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash in September, was followed by share price drops at listed domestic rivals MiniMax and Z.AI, according to Bloomberg. Earlier this week DeepSeek also open-sourced DeepInfer, the inference engine behind that model.
A listing appears to be the next step. Reuters reported in September that DeepSeek had hired CITIC Securities to prepare for a possible IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market, and Bloomberg says the company, like rival Moonshot, is preparing to go public. A raise of this size gives DeepSeek more room to build its own infrastructure before facing public-market investors.
The scale should be kept in context. Even at $15 billion, DeepSeek has far less capital than OpenAI and Anthropic, which have each raised more than $100 billion, as Bloomberg notes. The round also lands as DeepSeek faces political headwinds in the United States, where the Department of Homeland Security ordered civilian agencies to remove its products earlier this month.
All of the deal terms come from unnamed sources. DeepSeek has not confirmed the amount, the valuation or the investor list, and Reuters' sources cautioned that the figures are not final. Until the company or its backers disclose the round, the size and terms should be read as reported rather than confirmed.