DeepSeek talks to raise first funding round at up to $45B valuation

In short: DeepSeek, a Chinese AI lab, is reportedly in talks to raise its first outside funding round, with a potential valuation rising from $20 billion to $45 billion.

What happened

DeepSeek is talking with investors about raising venture capital for the first time, according to reports from the Financial Times and Bloomberg, as cited by TechCrunch. In these talks, the company’s possible valuation, which is what investors think the whole company is worth, has reportedly climbed quickly from $20 billion to $45 billion.

DeepSeek became widely known in early 2025 after it released a large language model (an AI system trained on lots of text, like a very advanced autocomplete). Reports said it was trained using much less computing power, and therefore less money, than similar AI models from major US companies.

Bloomberg reported that the funding round may be led by a state-backed investor called the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund. Tencent and Alibaba are also reportedly in talks to join. TechCrunch also noted that DeepSeek’s models have been optimized to run on Huawei chips, which are computer parts that power AI systems.

The Financial Times reported that the founder, Liang Wenfeng, controls close to 90% of DeepSeek and had not previously sought outside investors. It said the company is raising money in part to offer employees shares, after competitors tried to hire away its researchers.

Why it matters

This is another sign that countries and big companies are treating AI like important infrastructure, similar to electricity or railroads. If DeepSeek raises a large round led by state-backed money, it could speed up China’s efforts to build AI using more of its own chips and services, especially as access to some US technology remains difficult.

Source: TechCrunch AI