{"slug": "ai-investor-mania-chinas-deepseek-chases-us-70-billion-valuation-in-fresh-round", "title": "AI investor mania: China’s DeepSeek chases US$70 billion valuation in fresh round", "summary": "Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is in talks to raise a new funding round at a pre-investment valuation of around $70 billion, shortly after closing its first round. The new round follows strong investor demand to back the national AI champion, with previous backers including Tencent, NetEase, JD.com, and CATL.", "body_md": "# AI investor mania: China’s DeepSeek chases US$70 billion valuation in fresh round\n\nCompany’s fresh fundraising talks come straight off its landmark Series A, as investors scramble to back national AI champion\n\n[artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek](https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3355927/more-us-firms-turn-chinas-deepseek-over-pricey-silicon-valley-ai?module=inline&pgtype=article)is in talks with investors to raise a new financing round at around US$70 billion pre-investment valuation, shortly after closing a landmark first round, reflecting unquenched investor enthusiasm for the company.\n\n[South China Morning Post report earlier](https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3355818/deepseek-nears-us7b-haul-first-ever-funding-round-backing-tencent-catl?module=inline&pgtype=article).\n\nDeepSeek launched the new round shortly after closing the landmark deal because the first round was limited to a few selected backers, leaving other investors eager to support a national AI champion and still seeking ways to get involved, one of the sources said.\n\nThe previous round was backed by Chinese tech giants, including Tencent Holdings, NetEase and JD.com.\n\nContemporary Amperex Technology Ltd, also known as CATL, the world’s largest electric-vehicle battery maker, also joined, alongside venture capital firms including Monolith, Loyal Valley Capital and Shixiang.\n\nAnother source added that the fundraising talks remained at a preliminary stage and the valuation could change. The sources requested anonymity as they were discussing private information.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-investor-mania-chinas-deepseek-chases-us-70-billion-valuation-in-fresh-round", "canonical_source": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3360626/ai-investor-mania-chinas-deepseek-chases-us70-billion-valuation-fresh-round?utm_source=rss_feed", "published_at": "2026-07-15 06:11:30+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-15 06:33:44.933310+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-startups", "ai-products"], "entities": ["DeepSeek", "Tencent Holdings", "NetEase", "JD.com", "CATL", "Monolith", "Loyal Valley Capital", "Shixiang"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-investor-mania-chinas-deepseek-chases-us-70-billion-valuation-in-fresh-round", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-investor-mania-chinas-deepseek-chases-us-70-billion-valuation-in-fresh-round.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-investor-mania-chinas-deepseek-chases-us-70-billion-valuation-in-fresh-round.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-investor-mania-chinas-deepseek-chases-us-70-billion-valuation-in-fresh-round.jsonld"}}