DeepSeek raises about $15 billion in round, Bloomberg says

DeepSeek has raised about 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) in its latest funding round, one of China’s largest ever, Bloomberg News reported late Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. DeepSeek has not confirmed the round.

The Hangzhou-based company raised its financing target at least twice as it talked with investors, from 50 billion yuan to 80 billion yuan before reaching the final tally, those people told Bloomberg. Battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., known as CATL, and WeChat operator Tencent Holdings Ltd. were among the biggest investors in the round, the people said. They asked not to be named because the details aren’t public, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg first reported on Oct. 6 that DeepSeek was seeking at least 80 billion yuan, about $12 billion, with Tencent and CATL among the largest commitments.

Why it matters

The round, if it holds as described, would narrow but not close the money gap between DeepSeek and the U.S. labs it is measured against. Bloomberg noted that Anthropic and OpenAI have each raised more than $100 billion, several times what DeepSeek is reported to have gathered. DeepSeek built its name on doing more with less: Bloomberg said the company set off a $1 trillion meltdown in global markets in 2025 by showing it could compete with Silicon Valley’s leaders at a fraction of the cost. More capital changes that equation. Bloomberg reported that DeepSeek has begun spending more aggressively on AI data centers and on more open-source models for use in China and abroad. The investor list matters too. Backing from Tencent, one of China’s largest internet companies, and CATL, a battery maker, ties DeepSeek more closely to two of the country’s biggest corporate names at a time when Washington is moving to keep its products out of federal systems. What the money buys, and how fast, is not yet known.

Who has a stake

Investors: CATL and Tencent were among the largest backers, according to Bloomberg’s sources.

Rivals at home: Bloomberg said DeepSeek regularly releases high-performance, low-cost models that pressure domestic competitors. When it released V4.1 Flash in September, shares of local rivals MiniMax Group Inc. and Z.AI Co. fell, Bloomberg said. Companies from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to ByteDance Ltd. have also introduced low-cost, typically open-source AI services. Bloomberg cited a widely shared benchmark chart from Artificial Analysis that sketched what has been called the “DeepSeek death zone,” where competitors struggle to survive if they can’t beat the company’s performance or undercut its prices.

U.S. labs and customers: Bloomberg framed the round as a challenge to Anthropic and OpenAI, and said DeepSeek has gained customers in the U.S. and other overseas markets. In the U.S. government, that reach is shrinking. The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and bar new purchases, citing the risk of data reaching China, according to a Federal Register notice.

The founder: Liang Wenfeng is DeepSeek’s founder, CNBC has reported. In 2015, Liang and college friend Jin Xu founded High-Flyer Asset Management, a quantitative hedge fund, according to CNBC.

What’s next

Bloomberg said the funding sets the stage for one of the most anticipated Chinese market debuts in years. Like rival Moonshot, DeepSeek is preparing for an initial public offering, Bloomberg News has reported. DeepSeek has not announced the round, its investors or its valuation.