Bloomberg: DeepSeek closes funding round of around 100 billion yuan

Chinese AI company DeepSeek has closed a funding round of around 100 billion yuan, roughly $15 billion, according to Bloomberg. That is reported by The Next Web and Let's Data Science, which relay information from Bloomberg and Reuters. The information is based on anonymous sources, and DeepSeek has not itself confirmed the round in the reports cited.

The round doubles the original target of 50 billion yuan. According to Bloomberg, DeepSeek first raised the target to 80 billion yuan and then closed at roughly 100 billion yuan. The outlets name Tencent and CATL as investors in the round.

It is DeepSeek's second outside funding of 2026. The first, at more than 50 billion yuan (roughly $7 billion), was completed in June 2026.

Regarding the first round, the sources write that the state AI fund received a direct equity stake with voting rights. That has not been documented for the new round.

Unclear valuation

What DeepSeek is worth after the round is not clear. One outlet writes that the valuation target was around 500 billion yuan (roughly $75 billion), but that the final figure has not been confirmed. The Next Web mentions a valuation of roughly $71 billion, which DeepSeek sought in July 2026.

The round was originally scheduled to close before the end of August, but was delayed because investors were concerned about the price.

US order shortly before

According to Bloomberg, the round closed two days after the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ordered federal agencies to remove DeepSeek products from their systems. The stated reason was national security.

Despite the large sum, DeepSeek still has far less capital than its American rivals OpenAI and Anthropic, which have each raised more than $100 billion.

For ordinary users, the news has no direct impact today. It does show, however, that investors remain willing to pour large sums into Chinese AI, even as the US tightens its grip on the company's products.