DeepSeek Closes About $15 Billion Round With Backing From Tencent and CATL

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has raised about 100 billion yuan ($15.0 billion) in its latest funding round. Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) and battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (300750.SZ) are among the biggest investors, Bloomberg News reported.

The company, which is based in Hangzhou, increased its fundraising goal at least twice. It first aimed to raise 50 billion yuan (about $7.5 billion), then raised its target to 80 billion yuan (about $12.0 billion), before settling on the final amount, the report said. The report cited people who know about the matter.

This large funding round shows how much DeepSeek has grown since early 2025. At that time, the company showed that powerful AI models could be built at a relatively low cost. This news led to a broad drop in technology stock prices. Since then, DeepSeek has spent large amounts of money on data centers and open-source AI models. It has also started preparing for a possible initial public offering (IPO), when a company first sells its shares to the public.

Even with $15 billion in new funding, DeepSeek has raised much less money than leading U.S. AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic. Each of them has raised more than $100 billion. DeepSeek plans to use the new money to close this gap as competition for computing power and skilled workers grows stronger.

The funding report could not be independently confirmed.