DeepSeek secures $15B in funding just days after U.S. restrictions

DeepSeek has raised about $15 billion, 100 billion yuan, one of the biggest funding rounds in the country, Bloomberg reported. This follows the U.S. order for federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek’s AI technology from their systems over security concerns just two days prior.

Potential investors include Chinese battery maker CATL and Tencent, the company behind WeChat, among others, according to the report. This reported funding follows DeepSeek’s investment round in June, when it raised more than $7 billion at a valuation of $50 billion.

The company was also reportedly seeking an additional $1.5 billion at a valuation of around $71 billion in July, with plans for a potential IPO in China as early as next year. The Hangzhou-based AI startup is ramping up spending on AI infrastructure and open models for domestic and international markets, even as it faces restrictions in the U.S., the report said.

Its expansion could further intensify competition among domestic rivals. The massive funding round is the latest sign of investors pouring billions into AI companies around the world, including those in China, to compete in the global AI race.

Chinese company Kimi developer Moonshot AI secured $2 billion at a $20 billion valuation in May. Manus AI raised more than $500 million earlier this month. Meanwhile, Chinese companies Zhipu AI (Z.ai) and MiniMax, which both went public in Hong Kong in January, have market capitalizations of roughly $29 billion and $7.2 billion, respectively, as of today.

DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, who previously co-founded Chinese quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, which helped finance DeepSeek’s early development. The AI startup gained global attention in early 2025 with its free-to-use, open-weight RI reasoning model, challenging the dominance of U.S. AI companies.

Liang retains an estimated 81.6% stake in its Chinese operating entity following its earlier funding round, according to corporate ownership data analyzed by WireScreen. DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a TechCrunch request for comment.