DeepSeek funding: reported 100 billion yuan round at a $75 billion pre-money valuation, with a STAR Market IPO in view

DeepSeek, the Chinese maker of open-weight models, is reportedly close to completing its second funding round of 2026. Chinese business magazine Caijing reported on October 13–14 that the round has grown to about 100 billion yuan (roughly $15 billion), double its original target, at a pre-money valuation of about 500 billion yuan (about $75 billion). Tencent and battery maker CATL are among its largest backers, according to Bloomberg. The DeepSeek funding round is a step toward a listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, which is expected in 2027. DeepSeek hasn't confirmed any of it.

This story is based on reporting by Reuters, Bloomberg (via Reuters), the South China Morning Post, The Standard, ChinaVenture (via 36Kr), Caijing (via 36Kr and Seoul Economic Daily) and a GigaDevice exchange filing (via FilingReader), checked October 16, 2026. As of that date, neither DeepSeek nor any investor had announced that the round had closed.

The short version

• Round size (reported): about 100 billion yuan, up from a 50 billion yuan target when the round opened in July. Bloomberg and Reuters reported on October 6 that commitments had passed 80 billion yuan.
• Valuation (reported): about 500 billion yuan before the new money, unchanged since July. That's about $75 billion at Reuters' exchange rate.
• Investors (reported): Tencent and CATL lead. Caijing names SMIC's investment arm, Geely, Stony Creek Capital, CPE Yuanfeng and Legend Capital as new investors.
• Status: not closed. Reuters' sources expected it to wrap up in October, and no close had been announced as of October 16.
• IPO: DeepSeek hired CITIC Securities for a possible STAR Market IPO and aims to start the process in 2026, Reuters reported. The listing is expected in 2027.

What's been reported about the round?

The round has been reported in stages:

• July 2026: DeepSeek opened a new round targeting a 500 billion yuan valuation, Reuters reported. That came roughly a month after its first external round, in which it raised about $7.4 billion at a post-money valuation of more than $50 billion. In that June round, founder Liang Wenfeng committed 20 billion yuan, Tencent 10 billion and CATL 5 billion, according to Reuters.
• October 6: Bloomberg reported that DeepSeek was close to securing at least 80 billion yuan, possibly 100 billion. Reuters, citing one source, said DeepSeek was set to raise more than 80 billion yuan ($11.93 billion), with two sources expecting the round to close in October. Tencent and CATL had committed "among the largest" amounts, per Bloomberg.
• October 13–14: Caijing, as summarized by 36Kr, reported the round had reached nearly 100 billion yuan at an unchanged pre-money valuation of about 500 billion yuan, with new and existing investors each putting in about half. 36Kr's summary says DeepSeek "is about to complete" the round.

The dollar figures vary across reports because of currency conversion. At Reuters' rate of 6.7045 yuan to the dollar, 100 billion yuan is about $14.9 billion and 500 billion yuan is about $74.6 billion. Some outlets round to $14 billion or $15 billion.

Note what the valuation figure is. The 500 billion yuan is a pre-money valuation, the value before the new cash. If the full 100 billion yuan comes in, the post-money valuation would be about 600 billion yuan, or roughly $89 billion. That's our arithmetic from the reported figures, not a reported number.

Who is investing?

Last verified: October 16, 2026

GigaDevice's role is the least clear. Seoul Economic Daily, in an AI-translated summary of Caijing, lists it as a direct new investor. The other reports describe an indirect link. SCMP reported on August 26 that funds backed by GigaDevice were involved. ChinaVenture, republished by 36Kr on September 24, reported that a semiconductor-focused corporate venture firm it describes as set up by GigaDevice and an investment team planned to put about 5 billion yuan into the round. GigaDevice's own Shanghai Stock Exchange filing of June 2, 2026, as summarized by FilingReader, shows it committing 400 million yuan to Shanghai Shixi Zhaoyi Zhixin Venture Capital Partnership, which matches the 2026 fund commitment ChinaVenture cites as GigaDevice's link to that venture firm. The filing doesn't mention DeepSeek. Neither GigaDevice nor DeepSeek has commented on GigaDevice's role.

Taken together, the investor list leans heavily toward Chinese strategic backers: a chipmaker, a carmaker, a battery maker and an internet giant. That's different from the US frontier labs, whose rounds are dominated by cloud providers and large funds.

What about the IPO?

On September 9, Reuters reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter, that DeepSeek had hired CITIC Securities to prepare for a possible IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market and "aims to begin the IPO process this year." The same day, SCMP reported that DeepSeek had hired four underwriters including CITIC. Both reports said the timing, size and valuation of an offering hadn't been decided.

SCMP reported on August 26, citing two sources, that DeepSeek could file for an IPO as early as the end of 2026 and was eyeing a debut in 2027. Caijing, as cited by 36Kr, reported the same timetable in August, and Seoul Economic Daily reports a listing application expected "as early as the end of 2026." Those are expectations from unnamed sources, not a filing.

Reuters reported on September 14, citing two people with knowledge of the matter, that DeepSeek planned to hire Yan Wentao, a partner at GL Ventures, the venture arm of Hillhouse Investment, as its first chief financial officer. Reuters said Hillhouse isn't a DeepSeek investor. Seoul Economic Daily, in its AI-translated summary of Caijing, says the hire took effect on September 21. DeepSeek hasn't announced the appointment.

Why it matters

DeepSeek's open-weight releases, most recently DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on September 10, have pushed down the price of capable models. Our comparison of frontier APIs and open models shows how much cheaper hosted open models can be. A round of this size gives DeepSeek more money for compute. Seoul Economic Daily, in its AI-translated summary of Caijing, reports some of it is for a datacenter under construction in Inner Mongolia where DeepSeek plans to deploy more than 160,000 Huawei Ascend chips. That detail comes only from that summary.

It also sharpens the tensions with US labs. Anthropic has accused DeepSeek of distilling Claude, and the Associated Press reported on September 9 that an FBI, NSA and CISA advisory named DeepSeek among Chinese developers it said had distilled US models. China's Commerce Ministry called the claims groundless, per AP. Our explainer on Anthropic's distillation defenses covers that dispute.

What's confirmed, reported and uncertain

• Confirmed: nothing from DeepSeek. It hasn't commented on the round or the IPO; a DeepSeek representative told STAR Market Daily "No comment," per BigGo.
• Reported (Reuters, Bloomberg, October 6): commitments above 80 billion yuan; Tencent and CATL among the largest; an October close expected.
• Reported (Caijing, October 13–14): about 100 billion yuan at about 500 billion yuan pre-money; the named new investors.
• Reported (Reuters, SCMP, September 9): CITIC Securities hired for a STAR Market IPO, with the process to begin in 2026.
• Reported (Reuters, September 14): DeepSeek's plan to hire Yan Wentao as CFO.
• Uncertain: whether the round has closed and at what final size; whether GigaDevice invests directly or only through the venture funds it backs; when DeepSeek will file; and the IPO's size and valuation.