DeepSeek takes outside money for the first time at a $50 billion valuation

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek raised over $7.4 billion in its first external funding round, achieving a $50 billion valuation. Investors, including Tencent and CATL, contributed to a limited partnership with no voting rights and a five-year lock-up, except for a state-backed fund. Founder Liang Wenfeng prioritized foundational AI research and open-source models over short-term profits.

DeepSeek takes outside money for the first time at a $50 billion valuation Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has raised more than 50 billion yuan - about $7.4 billion - in its first external funding round. The company's valuation now tops $50 billion, The Information https://www.theinformation.com/articles/deepseek-closes-record-7-billion-plus-funding-unusual-deal-structure reports. As recently as April, the numbers being floated were at least $300 million at a $10 billion valuation https://the-decoder.com/deepseek-reportedly-seeks-outside-funding-for-the-first-time-at-10-billion-valuation/ . The deal structure is unusual. Investors had to put their money into a limited partnership managed by CEO Liang Wenfeng, not directly into DeepSeek. They have no voting rights and face a five-year lock-up period. The only exception is China's state-backed AI investment fund, which invested directly and keeps its voting rights. Founder Liang himself put in about 20 billion yuan, according to Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinas-deepseek-closes-over-7-billion-funding-with-unusual-deal-structure-2026-06-16/ . Tencent and battery maker CATL are among the biggest outside backers. Liang had told investors ahead of the round that he prioritizes foundational AI research and AGI development over short-term profits https://the-decoder.com/deepseek-reportedly-prioritizes-agi-research-over-quick-profits-despite-billions-in-funding/ and plans to keep building open-source models. DeepSeek gained global attention early last year with its V3 and R1 models https://the-decoder.com/inscrutable-wizards-how-chinese-ai-startup-deepseek-is-making-silicon-valley-look-slow/ . In April 2026, the company followed up with V4, the largest open-weights model to date https://the-decoder.com/as-agentic-ai-pushes-rivals-to-raise-prices-and-cap-usage-deepseek-ships-a-good-enough-model-for-almost-nothing/ , which runs on Huawei chips https://the-decoder.com/deepseek-v4-will-reportedly-run-entirely-on-huawei-chips-in-a-major-win-for-chinas-ai-independence-push/ . DeepSeek is also squeezing US rivals on price. The company made its 75 percent discount on V4 Pro permanent https://the-decoder.com/deepseek-makes-its-75-percent-discount-permanent-pricing-output-tokens-at-least-34x-below-gpt-5-5/ , making the model roughly 11 times cheaper on input and 35 times cheaper on output than OpenAI's GPT-5.5. Still, DeepSeek's valuation is modest compared to OpenAI and Anthropic, which are both approaching the trillion-dollar mark https://the-decoder.com/anthropic-approaches-1-trillion-valuation-as-revenue-grows-fivefold/ . AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans Subscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive "AI Radar" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section. Subscribe now The Information https://www.theinformation.com/articles/deepseek-closes-record-7-billion-plus-funding-unusual-deal-structure | Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinas-deepseek-closes-over-7-billion-funding-with-unusual-deal-structure-2026-06-16/