Inside DeepSeek's $7.4 Billion Maiden Funding Round

The founder's controlling bet

DeepSeek's founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng is not stepping back: he is reportedly committing roughly 20 billion yuan of his own capital, accounting for about 40% of the total raise and keeping him firmly in control of a company he has run with unusual independence . Reports note that Liang already held nearly 90% of DeepSeek's shares prior to the round. By injecting capital at the same terms as external investors, he preserves his ownership stake .

The external heavyweights

On the outside, the largest commitments are coming from two Chinese giants: Tencent and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), the world's biggest electric-vehicle battery maker.

• Tencent is considering an investment of around 10 billion yuan .
• CATL is reportedly looking at about 5 billion yuan, aligning with its push to sell power equipment and energy solutions to AI data centers .

Other names in advanced talks include China's national AI fund (the "Big Fund"), internet conglomerates NetEase and JD.com, and venture investors IDG Capital and Monolith Capital . Fewer than ten total backers are expected to participate .

Why now? A strategic reversal

For nearly two years, DeepSeek was one of the most talked-about AI companies that almost nobody could invest in. Operating under the ownership umbrella of Chinese quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, the startup had repeatedly turned down outside capital .

That changed for several reasons. Proceeds from the round are expected to fund expanded computing infrastructure — the lifeblood of frontier AI model development — and improved employee compensation, a critical lever for retaining top research talent amid fierce competition in China's AI sector .

The investment also signals DeepSeek's growing strategic importance. Its low-cost reasoning models stunned markets earlier this year, and now major industrial and internet players are positioning themselves alongside the lab. CATL's participation ties the electric battery supply chain directly to the AI data-center boom, while Tencent's interest deepens its ambitions to compete in the foundation-model race .

Timeline and caveats

The round is expected to close within the next few weeks, though people familiar with the matter caution that financial terms could still shift . All figures are based on anonymous sourcing and have not yet been publicly confirmed by DeepSeek. If the round lands at the upper end of its reported range, DeepSeek would join an elite club of AI companies valued above $50 billion — before ever taking a dollar of traditional venture capital.