DeepSeek weighs new raise at $71B, nears $500M revenue ahead of 2027 IPO
What's the deal? DeepSeek is in early talks to raise about $1.5 billion at a roughly $71 billion pre-money valuation, just weeks after closing its first-ever round of about $7 billion at a $52 billion valuation. The Hangzhou-based lab is also nearing $500 million in annualized revenue, the first concrete revenue figure publicly attached to it, according to The Information.
Why now? The swift pace stems from rising capital expenditure needs. DeepSeek wants to build its own data centre and buy more AI chips, driven by demand from its push into autonomous AI agents.
Who's backing it? Founder Liang Wenfeng led the first round with about $3 billion of his own money. Other investors included battery maker CATL; tech groups Tencent, JD.com, and NetEase; and venture funds IDGDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Monolith, and Shixiang. A state-backed national AI fund also took a minority stake.
What's the endgame? DeepSeek is preparing a mainland IPO, with a filing targeted as soon as late 2026 and a Shanghai debut planned for 2027, per Bloomberg. The $500 million revenue figure gives regulators and public investors a commercial floor to underwrite the listing.
The hiring push: DeepSeek plans to double the size of many core teams as it commercialises its frontier research. It launched a recruitment drive last month to "expand every department," joining a fierce talent war.
What could go wrong? The revenue figure is a single-source disclosure, not audited financials. The corporate structure is also unusual: Liang reportedly holds about 78% of the equity, and recent investors put money into a limited partnership he manages, with a five-year lock-up and no voting rights.
The signal: DeepSeek emerged as a leader in China's AI research last year with its open-source R1 model, built using more efficient methods. If it lists in Shanghai in 2027, it becomes the scarce liquid Chinese AI equity — forcing rivals like Zhipu AI and Moonshot AI, and global leaders OpenAI and Anthropic, to price it in.
Read more: aiweekly.co, Financial Times
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
