DeepSeek reportedly raises $15B just days after US ban

Chinese AI developer DeepSeek has raised about $15 billion — roughly 100 billion yuan — in one of the largest funding rounds the country has ever seen, Bloomberg reports. The timing is striking: the round landed just two days after US authorities ordered DeepSeek's technology removed from federal civilian agencies' systems, citing security concerns.

Potential backers, according to the report, include battery maker CATL and Tencent, the company behind the WeChat messenger.

A climbing string of valuations

The new round continues a rapid sequence of raises. In June, DeepSeek pulled in more than $7 billion at a $50 billion valuation; in July it was reportedly seeking another $1.5 billion at a valuation of around $71 billion, eyeing a possible IPO in China as soon as next year.

The Hangzhou-based company is ramping up spending on AI infrastructure and open models for both domestic and international markets — even in the face of US restrictions. Its expansion stands only to sharpen competition with domestic rivals.

Money pouring into Chinese AI

The sizable round is the latest sign that investors worldwide are funneling billions into AI companies, Chinese ones included. Kimi developer Moonshot AI secured $2 billion at a $20 billion valuation in May. Manus AI raised more than $500 million earlier this month. And Zhipu AI (Z.ai) and MiniMax, both of which went public in Hong Kong in January, are worth roughly $29 billion and $7.2 billion today.

DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, formerly a co-founder of the quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, which helped bankroll the lab's early work. The startup won global attention in early 2025 with its free, open-weight reasoning model, which challenged the dominance of US AI firms. Per ownership data analyzed by WireScreen, Liang still holds an estimated 81.6% stake in its Chinese operating entity after the earlier round.

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a TechCrunch request for comment.

Source: TechCrunch