Overview
- DeepSeek is negotiating a first external raise of at least $300 million at a valuation of $10 billion or more, according to The Information, and the company has not confirmed the talks or announced a deal.
- The AI startup has never taken outside money and previously relied solely on parent hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management.
- The reported fundraising reflects the steep cost of training and operating newer reasoning models that demand powerful chips and vast computing capacity.
- Some U.S. venture firms may hesitate to participate because DeepSeek is a Chinese company and faces export limits on top chips, with Reuters earlier reporting training on a restricted Nvidia processor and limited sharing of its flagship model with U.S. chipmakers.
- DeepSeek’s low-cost R1 model drew broad attention last year for rivaling Western systems at a fraction of the build cost, and a $10 billion valuation would rank the company among the world’s most valuable AI startups if the round proceeds.