DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, has reportedly raised more than 50 billion yuan (US$7.40 billion) at a valuation above US$50 billion in its first funding round, using a structure designed to preserve founder Liang Wenfeng’s control.

Investors put money into a limited partnership managed by Liang rather than into DeepSeek itself, according to the report.

They also agreed to a five-year lock-up and received no voting rights.

China’s National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund was the only reported exception, investing directly in DeepSeek with voting rights and no lock-up.

Earlier this month, Liang reportedly committed 20 billion yuan (US$2.96 billion) of his own money to the round.

Tencent was considering investing 10 billion yuan (US$1.48 billion), while battery maker CATL was considering 5 billion yuan (US$740 million), which would make them the largest external investors.

DeepSeek drew global attention early last year when its V3 and R1 models won praise in Silicon Valley and challenged assumptions in the US about China’s AI capabilities.

🔗 Source: Reuters

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