DeepSeek slated to draw $7 billion in maiden fundraising, sources say

DeepSeek reportedly has not shared its upcoming AI model with American engineers and instead granted early access to Chinese companies, further intensifying the technological war between the U.S. and China, as of Feb. 26, 2026. Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is set to raise about 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) in its first funding round from investors including Tencent Holdings and CATL people with knowledge of the matter said. The fundraising could value the company after the investment at between 350 billion yuan and 400 billion yuan, or between $52 billion and $59 billion, the people said, declining to be identified because the information is confidential. DeepSeek became China's national AI champion and garnered global fame early last year, when its V3 and R1 models drew widespread praise in Silicon Valley and challenged U.S. assumptions about China's AI capabilities. Tencent, CATL set to be biggest external investors The startup's founder, Liang Wenfeng, has committed 20 billion yuan of his own money, the people said, adding that tech conglomerate Tencent is considering 10 billion yuan and battery giant CATL is looking at 5 billion yuan, which would make them the largest external investors in the round. DeepSeek is also in final talks with China's national artificial intelligence fund, gaming developer NetEase and e-commerce giant JD.com , they said, noting that the planned number of investors was fewer than 10. …