China's DeepSeek Eyes Rp 1,300 Trillion Valuation in New Funding Round Ahead of IPO
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek is preparing to launch a new funding round at a valuation of around 500 billion yuan, or more than Rp 1,300 trillion. The move comes ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) on China’s stock exchange.
According to a Reuters report, the plan emerged only weeks after the Hangzhou-based startup secured funding of around US$7.4 billion in June at a post-investment valuation of about 450 billion yuan.
Sources familiar with the discussions said DeepSeek is targeting to raise as much as 50 billion yuan in fresh funds. The company has also begun discussing plans to list its shares on the STAR Market, Shanghai’s technology-focused bourse often dubbed China’s Nasdaq.
Indeed, according to one source, DeepSeek has set an internal target to complete its IPO filing this year.
Nevertheless, all sources stressed that the fundraising and IPO processes remain at an early stage, so the funding amount and timeline could still change. DeepSeek itself has not responded to requests for comment.
Previously, Bloomberg News reported that DeepSeek was preparing an IPO filing, while the Financial Times said the company was considering a new funding round at a valuation of at least 480 billion yuan.
AI Costs Rising
DeepSeek could be described as a ‘nightmare’ for American technology giants. The company caused a global stir in 2025 after launching an AI model claimed to rival US-built AI models at far lower training and operational costs. US AI giants’ shares tumbled en masse when DeepSeek’s R1 model was introduced to the public.
Shortly after completing its June funding round, the company announced plans to double staff across various divisions, including data centres and AI agent development — AI systems capable of completing various tasks with minimal instruction from users.
That expansion is expected to require enormous capital expenditure. Reuters previously reported that DeepSeek is developing a dedicated AI chip for inference and has quietly stepped up recruitment of chip design engineers to support the project.
For years, DeepSeek was known as one of the Chinese AI startups that refused outside investment. Its founder, Liang Wenfeng, previously funded the company using money from his quantitative hedge fund, High-Flyer.
However, the surge in costs required to remain at the industry’s cutting edge has changed that strategy.
Over the past year, DeepSeek has also faced fierce competition from Chinese technology giants such as ByteDance and Alibaba, as well as heavily funded AI startups like Z.ai, Moonshot, and MiniMax.
In the June funding round, Liang Wenfeng personally injected 20 billion yuan. Meanwhile, Tencent Holdings contributed 10 billion yuan and battery maker CATL invested 5 billion yuan, making it DeepSeek’s largest external shareholder.
Other investors include China’s national AI fund, gaming company NetEase, e-commerce giant JD.com, and investment firms IDG Capital, Loyal Valley Capital, Monolith Management, and Shixiang Capital.
The involvement of the Chinese government-backed AI fund demonstrates DeepSeek’s strategic position in Beijing’s ambition to build national AI champions while reducing dependence on foreign technology.