DeepSeek Near $12B Raise as Tencent and CATL Join Round That Could Top $14B, With STAR Market IPO Eyed for 2027

DeepSeek is nearing a Chinese AI funding milestone, closing in on at least 80 billion yuan (about $12 billion) from investors including Tencent and CATL in a round that could reach 100 billion yuan against a roughly $74 billion valuation, while the Hangzhou-based lab—whose founder Liang Wenfeng personally committed 20 billion yuan in June—hires CITIC Securities to prepare a STAR Market IPO eyed for early 2027 following its V4.1-Flash release and a Huawei partnership on Ascend AI chip programming tools.

• Chinese AI lab DeepSeek is close to raising at least 80 billion yuan (about $12 billion) from investors including Tencent and CATL, well above its original 50 billion yuan target, with the total possibly approaching 100 billion yuan.
• The round opened in July at a target valuation of 500 billion yuan (about $74 billion), DeepSeek's second raise since June, when founder Liang Wenfeng committed 20 billion yuan of his own money after previously funding the lab through his hedge fund High-Flyer.
• DeepSeek has hired CITIC Securities to prepare for a possible listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, with one account placing the domestic IPO in early 2027, and the company recently released V4.1-Flash and partnered with Huawei on programming tools for Ascend AI chips.