DeepSeek is reportedly in talks to raise about US$1.5 billion at a roughly US$71 billion valuation. It is also preparing for an initial public offering in 2027, though the listing could come as early as late 2026.

Founded in 2023, DeepSeek was spun out of High-Flyer, the Chinese hedge fund that backs it. DeepSeek chief executive Liang Wenfeng also leads High-Flyer.

DeepSeek reportedly raised about US$7 billion in its first outside funding round last month at a roughly US$50 billion valuation.

Investors included Tencent and Beijing’s National AI Industry Investment Fund.

Vercel data showed that DeepSeek accounted for nearly 23% of tokens processed in June through enterprise-focused AI gateway Vercel, compared with Anthropic’s 32%.

However, the figures reflect usage routed through its AI Gateway rather than the broader AI market.

DeepSeek’s cloud service reportedly runs on chips made by Huawei Technologies.

🔗 Source: TechCrunch