DeepSeek kicks off second funding round targeting ¥50 billion at ¥500 billion pre-money
On August 5, DeepSeek plans to raise ¥50 billion at a pre-money valuation of about ¥500 billion, one month after completing its ¥50 billion first external round.
On August 5, DeepSeek was reported to have launched its second funding round. The round plans to raise ¥50 billion at a pre-money valuation of about ¥500 billion, with signing targeted for late August. Just one month earlier, DeepSeek completed its first external funding of ¥50 billion at a post-money valuation above ¥350 billion. If the second round closes, DeepSeek will have raised over ¥100 billion across two rounds.
DeepSeek has been active on both product and pricing fronts recently. V4-Flash has launched as a full API version with peak-valley pricing, while V4-Pro emphasizes free switching between thinking and non-thinking modes at permanent promotional pricing. Haitong International's research report noted that V4-Flash's average cost per benchmark is only 3 cents, far below Anthropic Claude Fable 5's $3.15 and OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol's $1.86.
The restarted funding round shows that despite DeepSeek's long-standing low-cost positioning, capital is still pricing in a high premium for the next generation of its model capability. The round will further intensify the AI compute arms race.