DeepSeek valued at $52 billion as funding round and IPO plans unfold

DeepSeek valuation funding round IPO Liang Wenfeng

Regulatory filings by Chinese luggage maker Anhui Korrun and a Hong Kong subsidiary of Jiuan Medical reveal that the Hangzhou‑based AI startup DeepSeek was priced at about 350.9 billion yuan ($51.8‑$52 billion) in its first external fundraising round. The filing shows a 2.9 billion‑yuan investment that translates to an indirect 0.8265 % stake, implying the overall valuation.

The round raised roughly $7 billion, with additional capital pledged by investors such as Tencent and battery maker CATL. DeepSeek is already discussing a second round that could bring its pre‑money valuation to $71‑$74 billion (about 500 billion yuan). The company is preparing a listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market, with a target IPO filing as early as 2026 and a possible public offering in 2027.

Founder Liang Wenfeng, who spun the AI lab out of his High‑Flyer quantitative hedge fund, has seen his personal wealth more than double, reaching an estimated $36 billion. This makes him the world’s richest AI‑focused founder, surpassing OpenAI’s Greg Brockman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei. The rapid rise of DeepSeek underscores China’s growing competitiveness in frontier AI.