DeepSeek is preparing an IPO and chasing a $71bn valuation, weeks after its first raise

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek is preparing an IPO and seeking a new private funding round at a $71 billion valuation, just weeks after closing its first external raise at $50 billion. The company, which generates $400-500 million in annualized revenue from its open-source reasoning models, is working with advisers to file for a listing potentially by late 2026 or early 2027.

DeepSeek is getting ready to go public. The Chinese AI lab has started laying the groundwork for an initial public offering, according to Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/deepseek-mulls-new-funding-weeks-after-7-billion-round-ft-says . It could file as soon as this year, with a debut targeted for 2027. First, though, it wants to raise more in private. The Hangzhou lab closed its first-ever outside round only weeks ago. That raise took in about $7bn and valued it at roughly $50bn. Now it is talking to new backers about a fresh round. The pre-money valuation on the table is at least 480bn yuan, or about $71bn. Bloomberg says DeepSeek is seeking at least 10bn yuan, around $1.5bn. The final figure could run several times higher, depending on how many investors sign on. The Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/463add71-a59b-4ec3-aa65-c96d57a09b10 first reported the new fundraising. The Information https://www.theinformation.com/articles/deepseeks-annualized-revenue-nears-500-million-boosting-fundraise-ipo-plans puts the target higher still, at a second round of roughly $7.4bn. A sevenfold repricing in three months A $71bn tag would mark a jump of about 40% in six weeks. Zoom out and the climb is steeper. DeepSeek opened to external capital in April at around $10bn. Within days, Tencent and Alibaba entered talks that pushed the figure past $20bn. By May it was nearing $45bn. The round closed near $50bn in June. That first raise was unusual by design. Only one investor, China’s National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund https://thenextweb.com/news/china-big-fund-deepseek-45-billion-funding-round , received direct equity and voting rights. Every other backer’s money went into a limited partnership that founder Liang Wenfeng controls. They got no vote and a five-year lock-up. The structure would normally empty a room. Instead the round was reportedly oversubscribed. The IPO timeline DeepSeek is working with accounting and banking advisers to finish its financial statements by the end of December, one person told Bloomberg. That is a required step before any filing. A listing could come near the end of this year or early in 2027. The timing depends on when the numbers are ready. No exchange has been confirmed. The market expects mainland China or Hong Kong, where domestic rivals Zhipu and MiniMax have already listed. Zhipu’s shares are up nearly 1,600% since its January debut. That precedent helps explain why DeepSeek is edging toward public markets. The timeline would also put it alongside OpenAI. That firm recently pushed its own IPO to 2027, holding out for a $1tn valuation. Why investors keep paying up DeepSeek is not repricing on hype alone. Its annualised revenue recently reached between $400m and $500m, drawn from cloud access to its models, The Information reported. In June, the lab accounted for nearly 23% of the enterprise AI gateway tokens processed by Vercel, per TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/deepseek-reportedly-in-talks-to-raise-1-5b-then-ipo/ . Only Anthropic, on 32%, ranked higher. It built that position on open-source reasoning models. They perform within striking distance of frontier US labs, despite export controls that limit China’s access to advanced Nvidia chips https://thenextweb.com/news/nvidia-halves-asia-buyer-list-china-crackdown . DeepSeek’s cloud service runs on hardware from Huawei instead. It is one of the clearest signs yet that a competitive AI stack can run without American silicon. The founder who answers to nobody The valuation has been personally transformative for Liang. His stake, still around 78%, is now worth about $36bn on paper, up from $16.7bn. That figure comes from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It makes him the wealthiest AI founder in the world https://thenextweb.com/news/liang-wenfeng-richest-ai-founder-deepseek-valuation , ahead of Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Greg Brockman. Liang has told prospective investors that DeepSeek will prioritise long-term research over quick commercialisation. It will keep releasing open-source models on the road to artificial general intelligence https://thenextweb.com/news/deepseek-agi-goal-10bn-funding-round . That is easier to promise when your backers cannot outvote you. Whether it holds once DeepSeek answers to public shareholders is the real question a DeepSeek IPO would test. Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.