DeepSeek targets $71 billion valuation ahead of Shanghai STAR Market IPO

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is preparing a new private fundraising round that could value the company at roughly 480‑500 billion yuan (about $71‑$74 billion). Sources say the round may raise up to 50 billion yuan (around $7 billion) and that the company aims to file an IPO application on Shanghai’s STAR Market by the end of 2026 or early 2027, with a target filing deadline set for this year.

The June 2026 external round brought in about $7.4 billion at a post‑money valuation of $50 billion, backed by founder Liang Wenfeng’s personal 20 billion‑yuan contribution and investors such as Tencent, battery maker CATL, JD.com, NetEase and China’s National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund. The fresh round is expected to support expansion of data‑center capacity, development of proprietary AI inference chips and a doubling of staff across research, engineering and AI‑agent teams.

DeepSeek gained global attention in early 2025 for low‑cost models that rivaled leading U.S. systems, prompting a surge in enterprise usage and an annualized revenue run‑rate now estimated at $400‑$500 million. The company’s rapid capital accumulation and planned listing are seen as a test of China’s ability to build domestic AI champions amid U.S. export restrictions.