DeepSeek raises about $15 billion days after US restrictions

DeepSeek, the Hangzhou-based Chinese artificial intelligence lab, has reportedly closed a funding round of about $15 billion (around 100 billion yuan), one of the largest in the country. The report comes from Bloomberg and was picked up by TechCrunch in a brief item. The figure has not been confirmed by the company: DeepSeek did not immediately respond to TechCrunch's request for comment.

The timing is striking. According to the article, the round comes to light just two days after the United States ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek technology from their systems on security grounds. In other words, US restrictions do not appear to have dampened investor appetite for the company.

Potential investors, according to the report, include Chinese battery maker CATL and Tencent, the company behind WeChat, among others. The text offers no further details on the deal's structure or the amounts contributed by each participant.

The round adds to a recent funding track record. In June, DeepSeek raised more than $7 billion at a $50 billion valuation. In July, according to earlier reports, it was seeking an additional $1.5 billion at a valuation of nearly $71 billion and was weighing a possible IPO in China as soon as next year. The article does not state the valuation tied to the new round.

According to the report, the startup is ramping up spending on AI infrastructure and open models, for both domestic and international markets, despite US restrictions. TechCrunch notes that this expansion could intensify competition among its Chinese rivals.

The regional context confirms the flow of capital into Chinese AI. Moonshot AI, developer of Kimi, raised $2 billion at a $20 billion valuation in May. Manus AI raised more than $500 million earlier this month. Meanwhile, Zhipu AI (Z.ai) and MiniMax, which went public in Hong Kong in January, have market capitalizations of about $29 billion and $7.2 billion, respectively, as of publication.

As for the company, the article recalls that it was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, who previously co-founded the quantitative fund High-Flyer, which financed its early steps. DeepSeek drew global attention in early 2025 with its free, open-weight R1 reasoning model, which challenged the dominance of US companies. According to corporate ownership data analyzed by WireScreen, Liang retains an estimated 81.6% stake in the Chinese operating entity following the previous round.

Overall, the news shows that investors keep pouring billions into AI companies worldwide, including Chinese ones, amid a global race. It should be treated with caution: it relies on a single source (Bloomberg), lacks official confirmation, and leaves the round's valuation and allocation unspecified.