During the second round, the company aimed to raise at least 10…
During the second round, the company aimed to raise at least 10 billion yuan (approximately $1.48 billion) against a preliminary estimate of 480 billion yuan ($70.88 billion).
Consensus
- DeepSeek paused its second funding round.
- The pause followed public discussion of comments made by founder Liang Wenfeng about China's dependence on Nvidia chips and the country's technological gap with the U.S. in AI.
- The company communicated the pause to investors verbally.
- DeepSeek previously raised approximately $7.4 billion in its first funding round.
- The second funding round aimed to raise at least 10 billion yuan.
Points of divergence
- Bloomberg reported that DeepSeek informed investors orally about the pause, and sources said the company may resume fundraising later. — vedomosti
- Sources cited concern by founder Liang Wenfeng over media coverage of his comments during the first funding round as a reason for the pause. — kommersant
- Chinese media reported that Liang Wenfeng spoke about dependence on Nvidia chips and China's lag in AI development, but Bloomberg did not confirm these reports. — vedomosti
- The company is considering an IPO this year, according to sources. — kommersant
- Reuters reported that DeepSeek is developing its own AI chip for inference, not training. — vedomosti
Coverage (2 sources)
- DeepSeek suspended fundraising after founder's comments on the US and China — Ведомости
- DeepSeek has suspended the second round of funding — Коммерсантъ