DeepSeek · TechCrunch AI
DeepSeek could hit $45B valuation from its first investment round
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DeepSeek is in talks to raise its first round of venture capital, and in a few weeks, its potential valuation has soared from $20 billion to $45 billion, the Financial Times and Bloomberg reported.
Key facts
- DeepSeek is in talks to raise its first round of venture capital, and in a few weeks, its potential valuation has soared from $20 billion to $45 billion, the Financial Times and Bloomberg reported
- The Chinese AI lab came to prominence in early 2025 after launching a large language model that trained on a fraction of the compute power and at a fraction of the cost of the big U.S. models like
- Founded by Chinese hedge fund billionaire Liang Wenfeng, who controls nearly 90% of the company, the lab has not previously sought out investors, the FT reports
- That combo is considered a powerful duo for the nation to develop its own AI to rival the United States
Summary
The Chinese AI lab came to prominence in early 2025 after launching a large language model that trained on a fraction of the compute power and at a fraction of the cost of the big U.S. models like those from OpenAI and Anthropic. Founded by Chinese hedge fund billionaire Liang Wenfeng, who controls nearly 90% of the company, the lab has not previously sought out investors, the FT reports. The round is said to be led by the state investment vehicle China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, Bloomberg reports. That combo is considered a powerful duo for the nation to develop its own AI to rival the United States.