DeepSeek's second funding round aims to reach 100 billion yuan, CATL invests another 10 billion yuan, yet valuation remains unchanged.

BlockBeats news, October 13 — Caijing, citing multiple trading sources, reported that DeepSeek is about to complete its second round of financing, with the fundraising scale increased from the previously planned RMB 50 billion to approximately RMB 100 billion, doubling in less than half a month. However, the pre-money valuation remains at approximately RMB 500 billion and has not been raised along with the expanded fundraising scale. Combined with the first round of over RMB 50 billion completed in June, if this round is successfully closed, DeepSeek's cumulative fundraising over half a year will reach approximately RMB 150 billion.

New and existing shareholders in this round are each expected to account for about half of the proposed investment amount. Among them, CATL, after investing approximately RMB 5 billion in the first round, plans to invest another approximately RMB 10 billion in this round, while existing shareholders such as Tencent and IDG Capital also plan to continue increasing their stakes. New investors include Shixi Capital, SMIC Juyuan, CPE Yuanfeng, Legend Capital, and Geely, mainly from the semiconductor, automotive, and other industrial chains. DeepSeek has also been deepening industrial cooperation. In August, it spent RMB 141 million to participate in Unitree Robotics' IPO strategic placement, committing to a 36-month lock-up. Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that DeepSeek plans to lead a tens-of-millions-of-dollars seed round in robotics AI startup Winverse AI, with a post-money valuation of approximately $400 million. The company was founded by Hu Han, former head of embodied intelligence research at Tencent, and the deal has not yet been finalized.

As the financing wraps up, DeepSeek is also accelerating preparations for a listing. Former Hillhouse Venture Capital partner Yan Wentao joined in late September as CFO. The sponsor securities firm is reviewing the background of investors and assisting in adjusting the fund shareholding structure to meet STAR Market listing requirements. According to reports, DeepSeek plans to file as soon as the end of this year and aims to list in 2027.

It is worth noting that the doubling of the fundraising scale did not further push up the valuation. A person involved in the transaction believes this may be related to the stock price pullback of listed large-model companies such as Zhipu and MiniMax, as well as cooling investment enthusiasm in the primary market.