DeepSeek nears $45 billion valuation as China’s ‘Big Fund’ leads investment talks, FT reports
The state-backed fund could become DeepSeek’s lead backer after the startup’s flagship V4 model drove rapid investor interest.
- China's state-backed China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund is in talks to lead a fundraising round for DeepSeek, valuing the AI startup at about $45 billion.
- The startup's valuation surged from $10 billion to $45 billion in three weeks; founded in July 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, DeepSeek had previously relied entirely on internal financing from High-Flyer Capital Management.
- Following the April 24 launch of DeepSeek V4, the model achieved full-stack adaptation on Huawei's Ascend 950PR chip platform, delivering up to 2.87 times the performance of Nvidia's China-specific H20 processor.
- China's largest internet groups—Alibaba Group Holding, ByteDance, and Tencent Holdings—have collectively ordered hundreds of thousands of Ascend 950 processors following the V4 release, as domestic firms race to support the model.
- Known as the 'Big Fund,' the investment vehicle acts as the central tool Beijing uses to finance semiconductor self-sufficiency, treating frontier-AI labs as strategic assets rather than normal venture investments.
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DeepSeek reportedly seeks first funding round at $45 billion valuation · TechNode
China’s state-backed semiconductor investment vehicle, known as the Big Fund, is in talks to lead DeepSeek’s first external fundraising, which could value the AI company at about $45 billion, according to the Financial Times. Tencent is also among the investors still in discussions, though the final lineup has not been decided. The reported valuation is up sharply from about $20 billion only weeks ago, as investors look to back DeepSeek despite …
The fundraising occurs at a time when the company is losing ground to national competitors with more resources.
DeepSeek could be valued at up to $50 billion in first fundraising
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek could be valued at as much as $50 billion in its maiden fundraising drive, three sources said, as the large language model builder seeks to reverse its years-long strategy of rejecting outside funding.China's 60-billion-yuan ($8.8 billion) national artificial intelligence fund, founded in January last year, is in talks to be a lead investor in DeepSeek's fundraising, said one of the sources familiar with the matt…
Times of India
The Economic TimesDeepSeek nears $45 billion valuation as China's 'big fund' leads investment talks, FT reports
China's biggest state-backed semiconductor investment vehicle, China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, is in talks to lead the financing of DeepSeek's first fundraising that could value the frontier AI lab at about $45 billion.
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