DeepSeek Considers Doubling Funding Round to $15 Billion While Backing Robotics AI Startup

DeepSeek Expands Funding Round Amid Strong Investor Demand

DeepSeek is considering expanding its latest funding round to as much as 100 billion yuan ($14.9 billion), double its earlier 50 billion yuan target, as state-backed funds and corporate investors compete for stakes in the Chinese AI startup1

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. The AI startup has fielded strong interest from state-backed funds, investment arms of listed Chinese companies, and venture capital firms, according to sources familiar with the matter1

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. DeepSeek is vetting prospective investors closely, turning away private investment funds raised from individual investors and limiting participation largely to government and corporate funds1

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Chinese battery maker CATL and Tencent Holdings have committed among the largest amounts in the current funding round5

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. Other investors including CATL, Geely Auto, and investment managers Monolith Management and Loyal Valley Capital have committed capital in the latest round1

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. DeepSeek is seeking a valuation of about 500 billion yuan, or $75 billion1

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. The round, initially expected to close by the end of August, has taken longer than planned as some prospective investors waver over the price, though talks are nearing the end1

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Strategic Push Into Robotics AI Development

DeepSeek has agreed to lead the first funding round for Winverse AI, a startup building AI for robots2

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. The seed funding round is worth tens of millions of dollars and would value Winverse AI at about $400 million after the investment2

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. Meituan's investment arm, Long-Z, has also committed to the round2

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Winverse AI was founded this year by Hu Han, who led Tencent's vision-language and robotics AI teams2

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. Hu Han holds a PhD from Tsinghua University and has worked at Microsoft Research Asia and Baidu3

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. He left Tencent as it reshuffled its AI research team to catch up with rivals such as DeepSeek and Moonshot2

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. This investment would extend DeepSeek's presence in robotics beyond financial stakes, following its 2.31% strategic stake in humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics ahead of Unitree's Shanghai listing in August3

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Preparing for Shanghai IPO and AI Model Advancements

DeepSeek has tapped CITIC Securities to prepare for a possible IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market1

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. Once the funding round closes, the company plans to restructure in preparation for an initial public offering in early 20274

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. The company, which began taking outside capital for the first time this year, initially set a 50 billion yuan target for the current round1

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. Its first external funding round, which closed in June, raised about 50 billion yuan at a valuation of roughly 350 billion yuan1

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DeepSeek recently released its latest model, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash, designed for greater capability, faster inference, higher throughput and scaling to larger models5

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. The AI startup triggered a sell-off in U.S. tech stocks in January 2025 after releasing AI models that rivaled American peers at far lower cost1

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. DeepSeek recently partnered with Huawei Technologies to develop programming tools optimised for Huawei's Ascend AI chips, highlighting China's push to reduce reliance on Nvidia's AI ecosystem5

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Founder's Vision and Market Implications

Founder Liang Wenfeng told investors at a private meeting in July that he prioritizes pushing the technology toward artificial general intelligence over maximizing profit1

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. At investor meetings this year, Liang Wenfeng committed to keeping DeepSeek's AI models open and said the company's overarching aim is advancing toward artificial general intelligence, placing commercial returns below technological ambition4

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. When DeepSeek wrapped up its first outside fundraising round earlier this year, Liang's personal fortune more than doubled, reaching approximately $36 billion4

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The fundraising comes as DeepSeek faces rising AI capital needs and prepares for a possible Shanghai listing next year1

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. DeepSeek's decision to open up to external funding was seen as a sign of AI's ballooning capital demand and mounting pressure to retain talent amid intensifying competition1

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. China has built a strong manufacturing base for humanoid robot hardware, but developing the AI models that allow robots to interpret speech and perform complex real-world tasks remains a separate and less developed field, with U.S. startups Skild AI and Physical Intelligence valued at $14 billion and $5.6 billion respectively3

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. DeepSeek's move into robotics AI through Winverse AI positions the company to compete in embodied intelligence, a critical frontier for AI development.