DeepSeek, a prominent Chinese AI company, has resumed its second fundraising round, targeting to secure $7 billion (50 billion yuan) at a pre-money valuation of about $71 billion (500 billion yuan). This follows a temporary halt in late July, which was reportedly due to founder Liang Wenfeng's dissatisfaction with online leaks of his comments to investors regarding US-China AI competition. This second round, if successful, would bring DeepSeek's total fundraising to over $14 billion (100 billion yuan) within a span of less than five months.
The company's valuation has seen a rapid increase, climbing from approximately $10 billion when its first financing round began in April, to about $52 billion post-closure in June, and now an estimated $71 billion pre-money for the second round. This pre-money valuation of $71 billion is significantly higher than the $30 billion valuation of its peer, Moonshot AI, in its late July Series F funding. The second round is anticipated to be finalized by late August.
The initial financing round, which closed in June, raised $7 billion and included notable investors such as Tencent, CATL, the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, NetEase, JD.com, and IDG Capital. DeepSeek is also planning an ambitious expansion, aiming for a 1 GW AI data center in Inner Mongolia, with some capacity operational by late 2027 or early 2028. This move signifies a shift towards company-owned infrastructure for its computing needs.
