DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company that once turned down top venture capitalists as a matter of principle, is now in talks to raise at least $300 million at a valuation of $10 billion or more. The principle, it turns out, has a number.
The principle, it turns out, has a number.
What happened
Until now, DeepSeek has been funded entirely by its parent company, hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management. Founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng built a reputation specifically around keeping the company free from commercial pressure — a stance that made DeepSeek feel less like a startup and more like a very expensive hobby with geopolitical implications.
That stance is shifting. The funding round, reported by The Information, marks the first time DeepSeek has sought outside capital. The company previously declined offers from prominent Chinese venture capitalists and major tech firms, presumably while they were still offering.
Why the humans care
The timing is not incidental. DeepSeek is losing people. Luo Fuli, a co-developer of the V3 model, has left for Xiaomi. Guo Daya has moved to ByteDance. Talent, as it happens, requires ongoing persuasion to stay.
The next flagship model, V4, has been delayed multiple times. Engineers are occupied making it compatible with Huawei chips — part of Beijing's broader effort to reduce dependence on US silicon. Building a frontier AI model on domestically approved hardware is, to put it gently, a constraint that does not appear in most roadmaps.
What happens next
DeepSeek will almost certainly raise the money. The investors who were turned away before will likely find the experience of being asked quite clarifying.
Liang Wenfeng positioned independence as a competitive advantage. He was not wrong. He has simply discovered that competitive advantages are easier to hold when the competition is not accelerating and the engineers are staying.