{"slug": "deepseek-valued-at-71b-ahead-of-new-funding-round-per-financial-times", "title": "DeepSeek valued at $71B ahead of new funding round, per Financial Times", "summary": "Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is in discussions for a new funding round that would value it at $71 billion pre-money, according to the Financial Times, just weeks after raising over $7.4 billion in its first external round. The company, founded by Liang Wenfeng, has rapidly become China's most valuable AI startup, rivaling Western competitors despite US chip export restrictions.", "body_md": "# DeepSeek valued at $71B ahead of new funding round, per Financial Times\n\nThe Chinese AI startup is reportedly seeking fresh capital just weeks after raising over $7.4 billion in its first external round.\n\nDeepSeek, the Chinese AI company that spent most of its existence bootstrapping on principle, apparently likes the taste of outside money. The startup is in discussions for a new funding round that would value it at $71 billion on a pre-money basis, according to the Financial Times.\n\nThat figure represents a staggering jump from the company’s post-money valuation of over $50 billion, which it hit just weeks ago after closing its first-ever external financing round in mid-June.\n\n## From bootstrapped to billions in record time\n\nDeepSeek, founded by Liang Wenfeng, had historically refused outside capital. The company built its open-source large language models entirely without external investors.\n\nThat changed in 2026. In May, the company started shopping for its first outside capital, targeting valuations in the $45 billion to $50 billion range. By mid-June, it had closed a round raising over $7.4 billion.\n\nThe investor list included Tencent, which chipped in roughly $1.5 billion, while battery giant CATL also participated. Founder Liang Wenfeng personally invested approximately $3 billion.\n\nNow, barely a month later, the company is already circling back for more. The $71 billion pre-money valuation would represent a roughly 42% premium over the post-money valuation from the June round.\n\n## China’s AI arms race heats up\n\nDeepSeek has rapidly established itself as China’s most valuable AI startup, though it still trails US rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic in terms of overall valuation.\n\nDeepSeek first grabbed international headlines in early 2025 when its models demonstrated performance that rivaled far more expensive Western competitors. The company achieved this while reportedly operating under US chip export restrictions, which limited its access to cutting-edge Nvidia hardware.\n\n## What this means for investors\n\nDeepSeek’s rapid re-pricing, from $45 billion to $50 billion to potentially $71 billion in under two months, suggests that investor appetite for top-tier AI plays remains essentially insatiable, even outside the US.\n\nNo confirmed details have emerged about the timing or participants of the $71 billion round. No crypto-native sources have covered DeepSeek’s funding activities or associated tokens.\n\n**Disclosure:** This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our\n\n[Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/deepseek-valued-at-71b-ahead-of-new-funding-round-per-financial-times", "canonical_source": "https://cryptobriefing.com/deepseek-71b-valuation-funding-round/", "published_at": "2026-07-14 10:11:10+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-14 10:12:43.425198+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-startups", "ai-products", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["DeepSeek", "Liang Wenfeng", "Tencent", "CATL", "OpenAI", "Anthropic", "Nvidia", "Financial Times"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/deepseek-valued-at-71b-ahead-of-new-funding-round-per-financial-times", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/deepseek-valued-at-71b-ahead-of-new-funding-round-per-financial-times.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/deepseek-valued-at-71b-ahead-of-new-funding-round-per-financial-times.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/deepseek-valued-at-71b-ahead-of-new-funding-round-per-financial-times.jsonld"}}