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Chinese AI pioneer DeepSeek has begun preparations for an initial public offering and may file as soon as this year, setting the stage for what could be a landmark debut for the country’s technology industry.
The Hangzhou-based company has started planning for an IPO in the mainland and targeted a filing this year that would allow it to debut in 2027, said the people, asking not to be identified because the discussions are confidential. The startup is in talks with accounting and banking advisors, one of the people said.
DeepSeek is also seeking to raise more funds in the private market ahead of the IPO, mere weeks after closing a record $7 billion financing round, the people said. It has begun talks with new backers about a fresh round targeting a pre-money valuation of at least 480 billion yuan ($71 billion), they said.
That’s an increase from the roughly $50 billion price tag DeepSeek drew in its first round of external financing, which closed in early June with big names including Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. DeepSeek is aiming to raise at least 10 billion yuan of additional funds, though the final amount could go several times higher depending on the number of investors that sign on, the people said.
Discussions remain in flux, and the IPO timing and funding plans could change, the people said. Execution will depend on market conditions and the company’s performance.
The startup is working with accounting firms to finish its financial report by the end of December, a necessary step for the IPO filing, one person said. The company plans to make the filing near the end of this year or early in 2027, depending on when the financials are ready, the person said.
DeepSeek didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment. The latest fundraising effort was first reported by the Financial Times.
DeepSeek has drawn enormous interest from would-be investors because it’s one of a clutch of companies that sit at the heart of China’s effort to compete globally on AI. It developed a model last year that stunned the industry, demonstrating the ability to build a cutting-edge yet efficient platform with fewer computing resources. The breakthrough demonstrated that Chinese companies could compete with the best of Silicon Valley despite US export restrictions on advanced hardware.
The startup is now chasing more funds to support an ambitious expansion plan, including an increase in computing capacity. AI labs around the world are striking deals to secure the data center infrastructure they need to train and operate AI services.
Founded in 2023, DeepSeek is owned by hedge fund Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management. Its earlier fundraising set a record for first-time financing by a Chinese tech startup. Apart from Tencent and CATL, it also notably drew the backing of the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, one of the vehicles that spearheads Beijing’s over-arching endeavors in the sector.
DeepSeek’s senior management has told potential investors that the startup will prioritize groundbreaking AI research over short-term commercialization, Bloomberg News has reported. Founder Liang Wenfeng pledged in at least one meeting with investors to keep developing open-source AI models while pursuing the broader goal of achieving artificial general intelligence, underscoring the company’s focus on advancing the frontiers of AI rather than monetization.
Liang’s net worth more than doubled after his firm’s most recent fundraising round, making the Chinese entrepreneur the world’s richest among creators of AI models.
He’s now worth $36 billion, up from about $16.7 billion previously, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That ranks him well above Anthropic PBC co-founder Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Greg Brockman.
The startup is now expanding into agentic AI in the wake of OpenClaw’s emergence, tapping a wave of enthusiasm for software that can carry out tasks without human intervention.
–With assistance from Debby Wu and Olivia Solon.
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