DeepSeek pauses $71B raise after founder's leaked comments go viral
What's the deal? DeepSeek has suspended its second fundraising round after comments from founder Liang WenfengDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in private investor meetings were leaked and went viral on Chinese social media, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Liang verbally told prospective backers to hold off on the round, which targeted a pre-money valuation of roughly 480 billion yuan, or about $71 billion.
Why now? Liang expressed frustration that his candid remarks — about China's dependence on Nvidia chips and the country's AI gap with the US — had been shared publicly without his permission. The comments touched sensitive ground: Beijing has promoted the narrative that Chinese firms are rapidly closing the gap with American rivals.
The context: DeepSeek closed its first round in June, raising roughly $7 billion from investors including Tencent, battery giant CATL, and China's National AI Industry Investment Fund. That round valued the Hangzhou-based startup at $50 billion to $52 billion, among the most valuable AI companies in the world.
What's the endgame? Despite the pause, DeepSeek is preparing for a public listing and may file for an initial public offering as soon as this year, according to people familiar with the matter. It is also designing its own AI chip to cut reliance on Nvidia hardware, which US export restrictions have limited for Chinese buyers.
DeepSeek is owned by Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management, the hedge fund Liang founded before pivoting to AI research. Bloomberg estimates his net worth at $36 billion, making him the wealthiest AI model creator in the world, ranking above AnthropicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → co-founder Dario AmodeiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and former OpenAI president Greg BrockmanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What could go wrong? The company prioritises aggressive pricing and open-source development over short-term revenue, a strategy that has won a large developer following but raised questions about its finances. Liang has pledged to keep building open-source models — a commitment that sets DeepSeek apart from Western rivals but complicates raising capital at a $71 billion valuation.
The signal: A single leaked remark stalling a $71 billion raise shows how tightly China's AI ambitions are bound to political optics. For DeepSeek, the tension between research ideals and investor demands is now out in the open.
Read more: TNW
