Bloomberg: DeepSeek raises around $15 billion two days after US restrictions

Bloomberg reported that Chinese company DeepSeek raised around $15 billion, equivalent to about 100 billion yuan, in one of the country's largest funding rounds, just two days after the United States ordered civilian federal agencies to remove the company's technologies from their systems for security reasons.

The report noted that potential investors include Chinese battery manufacturer CATL and Tencent, owner of WeChat, alongside other investors. The round follows a previous funding in June where DeepSeek raised over $7 billion at a $50 billion valuation, and reports in July about its pursuit of an additional $1.5 billion at a valuation of nearly $71 billion, with plans for a potential public offering in China as early as next year.

Headquartered in Hangzhou, DeepSeek is increasing its spending on AI infrastructure and open models for domestic and international markets despite US restrictions, according to the report. The report said the expansion could heighten competition among domestic firms. It noted that other Chinese companies have seen large funding rounds, including Moonshot AI (developer of Kimi) and Manus AI, while the market values of Zhipu AI and MiniMax reached approximately $29 billion and $7.2 billion respectively following their listings in Hong Kong in January.

DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, who previously co-founded the Chinese quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, which funded its early development. The company gained global attention in early 2025 with a free open-weight reasoning model, and ownership data analyzed by WireScreen indicates that Liang retains about 81.6% of its Chinese operating entity. DeepSeek did not immediately respond to TechCrunch's request for comment.

What do these terms mean?

Funding round: A process in which a company raises capital from investors in exchange for an equity stake, typically used to expand operations, develop products, or enter new markets.

Valuation: The estimated market value of a company, often calculated by multiplying the share price by the number of shares or by comparing it to similar companies.

Open-weight model: An artificial intelligence model whose weights are published and made available for use or modification, unlike closed models whose developers do not disclose their details.