DeepSeek Reportedly Raises About $15 Billion Days After US Federal Ban

The Chinese AI lab is said to have secured roughly 100 billion yuan in one of the largest funding rounds in China, just two days after U.S. civilian agencies were told to remove its technology.

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Chinese artificial intelligence lab DeepSeek has reportedly raised about $15 billion, roughly 100 billion yuan, according to Bloomberg. The round is described as one of the biggest in China's history of startup funding, and it comes only two days after the United States ordered federal civilian agencies to take the company's AI technology off their systems over security concerns.

Bloomberg reported that the potential investors include battery maker CATL and Tencent, the company behind WeChat, along with others. DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch.

The new money follows a June round in which DeepSeek raised more than $7 billion at a valuation of $50 billion. In July, the company was also reportedly seeking another $1.5 billion at a valuation of around $71 billion, and it was said to be considering an initial public offering in China as early as next year.

Based in Hangzhou, the startup is stepping up its spending on AI infrastructure and on open models for both domestic and international markets, the report said. That push continues despite the restrictions it faces in the U.S. The expansion could also sharpen competition among its Chinese rivals.

The round is the latest example of investors putting billions of dollars into AI companies around the world, including in China, as the race for global leadership continues. Moonshot AI, the developer of Kimi, secured $2 billion at a $20 billion valuation in May. Manus AI raised more than $500 million earlier this month.

Two other Chinese firms, Zhipu AI (Z.ai) and MiniMax, both listed in Hong Kong in January. Their market capitalizations stand at roughly $29 billion and $7.2 billion, respectively.

DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, who previously co-founded the Chinese quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer. That fund helped finance the AI lab's early development. The startup drew worldwide attention in early 2025 with its free-to-use, open-weight R1 reasoning model, which challenged the dominance of U.S. AI companies.

After its earlier funding round, Liang retains an estimated 81.6% stake in DeepSeek's Chinese operating entity, according to corporate ownership data analyzed by WireScreen.

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