DeepSeek may reach a $45B valuation in the debut funding round

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is reportedly in discussions to raise its first-ever venture capital funding round, and its valuation has rapidly climbed in recent weeks. According to reports from the Financial Times and Bloomberg, the company could now be valued at up to $45 billion, up sharply from an earlier estimate of around $20 billion.

DeepSeek emerged as one of the most closely watched AI companies in early 2025 after unveiling a large language model reportedly trained with significantly less computing power and at a much lower cost than leading U.S. AI systems developed by companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Despite using fewer resources, the company has continued to compete with top global AI models in areas including reasoning and coding performance. The startup has also gained attention for maintaining an open-source approach, making versions of its models freely accessible through platforms like Hugging Face.

DeepSeek was founded by Chinese hedge fund billionaire Liang Wenfeng, who reportedly controls close to 90% of the company. According to the Financial Times, the AI lab had previously avoided taking outside investment. However, growing competition for AI talent and increasing pressure from rival companies seeking to recruit DeepSeek researchers reportedly prompted Liang to consider raising capital to offer equity incentives to employees.

Bloomberg reported that the funding round is expected to be led by China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, a major state-backed investment vehicle. The move reflects China’s broader strategy to strengthen domestic AI development and reduce reliance on U.S. technology, particularly advanced semiconductor chips, which remain difficult for Chinese firms to access due to export controls.

DeepSeek has reportedly optimised its AI systems to run efficiently on hardware from Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies. Industry observers view the DeepSeek-Huawei combination as an important part of China’s efforts to build a competitive domestic AI ecosystem capable of rivalling the United States'.

Bloomberg also reported that Chinese cloud and technology giants Tencent and Alibaba are in talks to participate in the investment round.

The potential fundraising comes at a time when global competition in artificial intelligence continues to intensify, with companies racing to secure talent, infrastructure, and computing power. DeepSeek’s rapid rise has positioned it as one of the most prominent AI startups emerging from China’s growing technology sector.