DeepSeek has temporarily halted its latest fundraising efforts after reports of founder Liang Wenfeng's alleged remarks on AI competition attracted widespread attention
Negotiations remain fluid and the startup could resume talks at a later stage
The company is also preparing for a possible IPO while continuing to prioritise AI research and computing expansion
DeepSeek Pauses Fundraising After Founder Liang Wenfeng's Remarks Go Viral
Before the reported pause, DeepSeek had been seeking to raise at least 10 billion yuan in fresh capital, with the final amount potentially increasing depending on investor participation
DeepSeek
Summary
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Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek has temporarily suspended its ongoing fundraising round after online posts widely attributed to founder Liang Wenfeng attracted significant attention.
DeepSeek has verbally informed some prospective investors that investment agreements expected in the coming days will not be signed for now, as per a report by Bloomberg.
The company could choose to restart the fundraising process at a later stage, while negotiations remain subject to change, the report said.
The decision was partly driven by Liang's dissatisfaction over online reports concerning remarks allegedly made during meetings with investors in the company's first funding round, which concluded in June and raised $7 billion.
Chinese media outlet Yicai reported this week that the entrepreneur discussed DeepSeek's dependence on Nvidia Corp chips for AI development and acknowledged that China still trails the United States in AI sophistication, as per the BBG report.
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Fundraising Ambitions Remain Intact
Before the reported pause, DeepSeek had been seeking to raise at least 10 billion yuan in fresh capital, with the final amount potentially increasing depending on investor participation.
The company was targeting a pre-money valuation of at least 480 billion yuan, significantly above the roughly $50 billion valuation achieved during its first financing round, as per BBG.
The latest fundraising effort followed DeepSeek's record debut financing, which attracted investors including Tencent Holdings Ltd, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) and China's National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund.
Expansion And IPO Plans
DeepSeek has begun preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) and could file for a listing as early as this year, potentially marking one of China's most significant technology listings in recent years.
Founded in 2023 and owned by hedge fund Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management, DeepSeek gained global attention after unveiling an AI model that demonstrated competitive performance while using comparatively fewer computing resources.
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The achievement was widely seen as evidence that Chinese AI companies could remain competitive despite US export restrictions on advanced chips.
DeepSeek is seeking additional capital to expand its computing infrastructure while maintaining its long-term research ambitions.
The company's management has told investors it intends to prioritise breakthroughs in AI research over near-term commercialisation, continue developing open-source AI models and pursue the broader goal of achieving artificial general intelligence, as per BBG.