Synopsis
Chinese Artificial Intelligence lab DeepSeek has closed its first funding round that raised more than 50 billion yuan ($7.40 billion) under an unusual deal structure, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.Listen to this article in summarized format
The funding required investors to put their capital into a limited partnership managed by DeepSeek CEO Liang Wenfeng rather than into DeepSeek itself, the report said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. DeepSeek could not immediately be reached for comment.
Investors are subject to a five-year lock-up and will not have voting rights, the report said.
China's National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund is the only exception, having invested directly in DeepSeek and retaining both voting rights and freedom from the lock-up, the Information added.
Reuters reported earlier this month that founder Liang had committed 20 billion yuan of his own money in this funding round, adding that tech conglomerate Tencent is considering 10 billion yuan and battery giant CATL is looking at 5 billion yuan, which would make them the largest external investors.
DeepSeek became China's national AI champion and garnered global fame early last year, when its V3 and R1 models drew widespread praise in Silicon Valley and challenged U.S. assumptions about China's AI capabilities.
