DeepSeek resumes second funding round at 500B yuan pre-money valuation
DeepSeek resumed its second funding round in early August, seeking about 50B yuan at a pre-money valuation of around 500B yuan, equivalent to roughly $74 billion, with signing expected by late August.
On August 5, multiple transaction sources told Caijing that DeepSeek resumed its second funding round, targeting about 50 billion yuan at a pre-money valuation of roughly 500 billion yuan (about $74 billion), with signing expected by late August. The round had been open since mid-July but was paused in late July after some investors on the candidate list were told to hold off on signing.
According to a July 26 report, one reason for the pause was founder Liang Wenfeng's displeasure with widely circulated online comments tied to a leaked investor meeting transcript. Caijing reached out to DeepSeek for confirmation but did not receive a response. Transaction sources said DeepSeek and investors at the table want the resumed round to proceed quietly.
DeepSeek opened its first external funding round in April 2026 and closed it in June at 50 billion yuan and a valuation above 350 billion yuan, making it the largest first-round AI funding in Chinese history. The second-round pre-money valuation of 500 billion yuan is about 43% higher than the first round. If successful, DeepSeek will have raised more than 100 billion yuan across both rounds.
First-round investors include the National AI Industry Investment Fund, Tencent, CATL and Boquan Capital, NetEase, JD.com, Lattice Capital, IDG Capital, Zhengxin Capital, and Vision Plus Capital. Context: DeepSeek V4 Flash hit the top of global API call rankings after its official public beta launched, with annual revenue approaching $500 million and gross margin around 70-80%.