DeepSeek Nears $12B Funding Round With Tencent and CATL Among Backers

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek is close to raising at least 80 billion yuan (approx. $12 billion) from investors including Tencent and battery maker CATL, according to sources familiar with the matter. Term sheets already signed suggest the total could approach 100 billion yuan, significantly exceeding the initial target of 50 billion yuan set when the round opened in July.

Strategic Backers and Market Position

Tencent and CATL have committed substantial sums, with Tencent contributing 10 billion yuan and CATL 5 billion yuan to the first round. This investment deepens Tencent’s ties to DeepSeek as its own Hunyuan model trails domestic rivals like ByteDance’s Doubao and DeepSeek. The partnership allows Tencent to compete more effectively with Alibaba, which has prioritized its in-house Qwen model.

IPO Preparation and Company History

The capital raise serves to build a financial reserve ahead of a potential initial public offering on Shanghai’s STAR Market, which one account places in early 2027. DeepSeek has hired CITIC Securities to prepare for this listing, though the final timing, valuation, and size remain undecided. This is DeepSeek’s second external funding round; the first closed in June with founder Liang Wenfeng contributing 20 billion yuan from his hedge fund, High-Flyer. The company recently released the V4.1-Flash model and partnered with Huawei on programming tools for Ascend AI chips.