DeepSeek targets $45B valuation in first funding round
Original: DeepSeek could hit $45B valuation from its first investment round
Why This Matters
Signals China's push for AI independence and validates cost-efficient model development
Chinese AI lab DeepSeek is raising its first venture capital round with valuation jumping from $20B to $45B in weeks. Founded by hedge fund billionaire Liang Wenfeng who owns 90%, the company created cost-efficient models rivaling OpenAI.
DeepSeek, the Chinese AI lab that gained prominence in early 2025 with cost-efficient large language models, is seeking its first venture capital round at a $45 billion valuation according to Financial Times and Bloomberg reports. The valuation has more than doubled from $20 billion in recent weeks. Founded by hedge fund billionaire Liang Wenfeng who controls nearly 90% of the company, DeepSeek previously operated without external investors. The funding round is reportedly led by China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, with cloud giants Tencent and Alibaba also in talks to participate. DeepSeek's models train on a fraction of the compute power and cost compared to U.S. competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic, while maintaining competitive performance in reasoning and coding. The company has optimized its technology to run on Huawei chips.