DeepSeek seeks fresh capital at $74 billion before China IPO

DeepSeek is preparing to raise fresh capital at a valuation of about 500 billion yuan, or $74 billion, in a move that would put China’s best-known AI startup at the center of the country’s capital markets test. The Hangzhou-based company is also weighing a mainland listing, with early discussions centered on Shanghai’s STAR Market, China’s Nasdaq-style board for technology companies.

People briefed on the plan said DeepSeek has set an internal target to complete its IPO filing this year, even as the financing and listing plans remain in an early stage and could still change. Reuters also reported that the new round could raise as much as 50 billion yuan, adding another layer to a transaction that would rank among the most closely watched AI fundraisings in China.

The size of the planned valuation matters because it comes barely weeks after DeepSeek closed its first external funding round in June at a post-money valuation of about 450 billion yuan, or roughly $7.4 billion. That round was reported to include Tencent and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., better known as CATL, while some accounts said China’s National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund also participated. The speed of the repricing, if completed, would underscore how aggressively domestic investors are still backing leading AI names.

For Beijing, the stakes go beyond one startup. An onshore listing would anchor DeepSeek more firmly inside China’s domestic financial system at a time when policymakers want locally built companies to compete with U.S. leaders such as OpenAI and Anthropic. It would also give investors a cleaner public-market benchmark for judging whether China’s AI champions can turn technical prestige into durable revenue.

DeepSeek rose to global prominence in January 2025 after launching its R1 model, which the company said could rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT at lower cost. That breakthrough helped turn Liang Wenfeng, who founded DeepSeek in 2023 in Hangzhou and also co-founded High-Flyer Capital Management, into one of the most closely watched figures in China’s AI industry.

Bloomberg-reported coverage has said DeepSeek is preparing for a possible IPO filing and could debut publicly in 2027. For now, the company’s valuation is becoming a referendum on whether China’s AI market is maturing into a sustainable funding base or still running ahead of commercial adoption, revenue visibility and product monetization.