DeepSeek nears $12 billion in funding ahead of 2027 IPO

DeepSeek is close to raising at least $12 billion in fresh funding before it goes public in 2027, according to Bloomberg. The Hangzhou-based AI lab is preparing for a potential listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market. The capital raise would arrive as the company builds out the financial plumbing a public offering requires. The details The money is coming in layers. DeepSeek closed its first external funding round in June 2026, raising approximately $7.4 billion. That round gave the company a post-money valuation of over $50 billion. Founder Liang Wenfeng put in approximately $3 billion of his own assets. DeepSeek is now finalizing talks on another round. It is valued at around 50 billion yuan, roughly $7.4 to $7.5 billion. The pricing on that second round is the eye-catcher. It reportedly values DeepSeek at about 500 billion yuan before the new money goes in, or roughly $74 to $75 billion. The revenue story helps explain why. As of September 2026, DeepSeek reported an annualized revenue run rate of $1 billion, more than double its previous figures. Much of that growth came from DeepSeek’s API business, which lets developers plug its models into their own products. Those price increases ...