China AI company DeepSeek is set to raise about RMB 50 billion ($7.4 billion) in its first funding round from investors including Tencent and CATL, reports Reuters citing insider sources.
The fundraising could value the company after the investment at between RMB 350 billion and RMB 400 billion, or between $52 billion and $59 billion, the people said, declining to be identified because the information is confidential.
Founder Liang has committed RMB 20 billion of his own money in this funding round, the people said. They added that tech conglomerate Tencent is considering RMB 10 billion and battery giant CATL is looking at RMB 5 billion, which would make them the largest external investors. DeepSeek is also in final talks with China’s national artificial intelligence fund, gaming developer NetEase and e-commerce giant JD.com, they said, noting that the planned number of investors was fewer than 10.