US Security Ban Fails to Halt DeepSeek’s Massive Capital Inflow
Despite a federal order to purge its systems over security risks, the Chinese AI lab secured about 15 billion dollars in new funding.
By Ishani Kapalli ·
The United States has moved to block DeepSeek from federal computer networks, but investors are still eager to write checks. The Chinese artificial intelligence firm reportedly closed a round of about 15 billion yuan, or roughly 15 billion dollars, just days after the American government ordered civilian agencies to strip the company’s technology from their systems. This capital infusion ranks among the largest ever recorded for a company in China.
The funding news arrived two days after the ban was issued. The ban cites concerns regarding security. Potential backers for this new round include the battery manufacturer CATL and Tencent, the parent company of WeChat. The transaction is expected to facilitate the company's growth. It is designed to increase spending on the hardware and infrastructure necessary to train large language models.
DeepSeek, based in Hangzhou, has not stopped pursuing a global market. The company continues to develop open models for use both inside and outside of China. This expansion occurs despite the new restrictions in the United States. It also places the firm in direct competition with other domestic rivals in the sector.
This deal follows a period of rapid financial growth for the startup. In June, DeepSeek raised over 7 billion dollars. At that time, the company carried a valuation of 50 billion dollars. By July, the firm was reportedly seeking another 1.5 billion dollars. During those discussions, the valuation rose to roughly 71 billion dollars. Reports from that period also indicated plans for a public offering in China as early as next year.
The capital is flowing into other areas of the industry as well. The market for artificial intelligence software is expanding fast across the region. Moonshot AI, the developer behind Kimi, secured 2 billion dollars in May at a 20 billion dollar valuation. Manus AI collected over 500 million dollars earlier this month. Two other companies, Zhipu AI and MiniMax, listed on the Hong Kong exchange in January. As of today, their market capitalizations stand at approximately 29 billion dollars and 7.2 billion dollars, respectively.
DeepSeek itself was established in 2023. Liang Wenfeng founded the firm. He previously co-founded High-Flyer, a quantitative hedge fund. That fund helped finance the artificial intelligence startup’s early work. The firm gained worldwide recognition in early 2025. It released a free, open-weight reasoning model. The release challenged the dominance of American AI companies. Corporate ownership data analyzed by WireScreen shows Liang retains an estimated 81.6% stake in the Chinese operating entity after the earlier funding rounds.
The company has not yet commented on the details of this latest funding. DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the report.
Source: TechCrunch
