Bloomberg (report) · 2026-06-03 · rumor
Bloomberg: DeepSeek Closes In on a $7.4B First-Ever External Funding Round at a $52–59B Valuation — Tencent and CATL Lead the Outside Money, Founder Liang Wenfeng Personally Commits 20B Yuan, Term Sheets Already Going Out
Bloomberg reports DeepSeek is closing its first outside round at roughly 50B yuan ($7.4B) and a $52–59B valuation, with Tencent (~10B yuan), CATL (~5B yuan), and founder Liang putting in 20B yuan of his own money.
Bloomberg's reporting puts DeepSeek's first external raise at ~50B yuan ($7.4B) at a $52–59B valuation, with term sheets already being signed.
Key specs
| Round size (reported) | ~50B yuan / ~$7.4B |
|---|---|
| Post money valuation | $52–59B |
| Liang wenfeng commitment | 20B yuan |
| Tencent commitment | ~10B yuan |
| Catl commitment | ~5B yuan |
| Expected close | within weeks |
What is it?
DeepSeek, the Chinese frontier-model lab bankrolled since inception by founder Liang Wenfeng's High-Flyer quant fund, is reportedly closing its first outside funding round. Bloomberg's June 3 reporting — corroborated by SCMP, CNBC, and The Next Web — says term sheets are being signed for roughly 50 billion yuan, about $7.4B, at a $52–59B post-money valuation. DeepSeek has not publicly confirmed.
How does it work?
The round is largely founder-led: Liang is putting in 20B yuan of his own money, with Tencent the largest outside backer at about 10B yuan and battery maker CATL second at about 5B yuan. The Next Web also names IDG Capital and Monolith Capital as participants. SCMP says the deal is expected to close within weeks. Until now, DeepSeek had refused all external capital, choosing instead to subsidize compute through High-Flyer's quant operations.
Why does it matter?
Two things change if this closes. First, DeepSeek finally has a war chest to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI on compute and talent rather than just publishing open weights and undercutting API prices. Second, Tencent and CATL writing the two largest outside checks pulls DeepSeek deeper into China's strategic-industry orbit at exactly the moment Beijing has begun restricting overseas travel for top AI talent at firms like Alibaba and DeepSeek itself.
Who is it for?
investors, China-watchers, frontier-lab competitive analysts, policymakers tracking US–China AI dynamics
Try it
Read SCMP's writeup: https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3355818/deepseek-nears-us7b-haul-first-ever-funding-round-backing-tencent-catl