Behind every new elite, there are ultimately old fortunes at play.
In 1990s Guangdong, factories were hiring and businesses were sprouting up everywhere. Young people who dared to venture out could easily earn their first pot of gold. With the private economy booming, many believed that wealth could change one's destiny more than a diploma ever could.
But a primary school teacher in Wuchuan, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, held firm to his own convictions. Despite parents frequently coming to him insisting that "education is useless," he continued to value education and was determined to give his son a proper schooling. The son did not disappoint—at seventeen, he was admitted to Zhejiang University. Over the following two decades, the young man completed his undergraduate and master's degrees in Hangzhou, studied machine vision, experimented with applying machine learning to financial trading alongside classmates, and co-founded a quantitative investment firm with Zhejiang University alumni.
In 2015, High-Flyer was established in Hangzhou. In 2023, DeepSeek was also born in Hangzhou. That Guangdong boy had risen to prominence.
Like Liang Wenfeng's home province of Guangdong, Zhejiang—where DeepSeek is based—has long enjoyed an active private economy and a deep-rooted tradition of commerce. As far back as the Ming and Qing dynasties, merchant groups from Longyou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing were already active across various regions. In modern times, Ningbo merchants traveled along waterways into Shanghai, operating money houses, shipping, and trade. Shanghai once had a saying: "No market can function without Ningbo merchants." After reform and opening up, Wenzhou merchants traveled far and wide, Yiwu's small commodities were sold globally, and Hangzhou gradually became a major hub for internet and technology entrepreneurship.
Business ultimately comes down to people. Seniors mentor juniors; when juniors succeed, they cannot forget old bonds. Through business dealings, relationships and trust gradually accumulate, and only then do many matters become negotiable.
In 2026, when Liang Wenfeng opened the door to external capital for the first time, a wave of Zhejiang capital quickly assembled behind him. A company with a distinctly techno-idealist character found itself backed by a group of capital figures with strong local commercial coloring. At first glance, it carried a whiff of a Zhejiang capital "old friends' gathering."
Based on my preliminary review, the identifiable Zhejiang-related capital involved amounts to approximately 3.55 billion yuan. If calculated against DeepSeek's two funding rounds totaling roughly 150 billion yuan, that represents about 2.3%. However, this figure mixes fund subscription amounts and project investment amounts at different levels, and can only serve as a preliminary reference for the scale of capital participation—it cannot yet be regarded as Zhejiang capital's actual equity contribution ratio.
2.3% may not seem like much, but considering DeepSeek's funding threshold, it is actually not low. Taking the first funding round as an example, Liang Wenfeng and the founding team still firmly controlled the company, with Hangzhou Chengli serving as an important external holding platform, holding approximately 8.52% of DeepSeek's equity. Although this cannot be taken as the total shareholding ratio of all external investors, in such a fiercely competitive funding round where investment eligibility is scarce, Zhejiang capital's ability to secure a seat is noteworthy enough.
A closer look at the players in this capital game reveals local state-owned capital, private enterprises organized by the Hengdian group, and Zhejiang tycoons like Zhong Shanshan. They each had their own businesses and their own capital pathways, yet ultimately converged at DeepSeek. How much of this money is backed by old friendships and how much by new shared interests is difficult for outsiders to discern. The only certainty is that in a project where investment allocations are this scarce, simply getting a seat at the table is no easy feat.
"The jianghu is not about fighting and killing; the jianghu is about human relations." Even for cutting-edge technology like large models, when it comes time to divide the spoils, behind it all is still a network of relationships that ordinary people simply cannot see clearly.
Cao Xi Builds the Bridge, State Capital Enters
Let me start with some background. Liang Wenfeng approached investors in his early years, but due to the mismatch between his focus on frontier exploration and VCs' profit-seeking demands, he gave up on the idea. But this did not stop wave after wave of investors from lining up to visit DeepSeek. I recall a prominent investment institution telling me at the time: go queue up first, get a number, in case there's a funding round in the future. That foresight paid off—this institution recently appeared on DeepSeek's investor list.
However, the most prominent player in this wave is none other than Cao Xi's Lisi Capital. Not only has it appeared in DeepSeek's funding network for two consecutive rounds, but it has also become the largest "channel" for DeepSeek shares. Lisi has not been around long, yet it has already positioned itself in some of China's most active AI startup tracks—Moonshot AI, Infinigence, MetaX—all have Lisi behind them.
Around DeepSeek, in May of this year, DeepSeek's first funding round entered a critical phase, and Lisi's Tianjin Lisi Xingling Fund was established. Subsequently, this fund, with a scale of approximately 2.9 billion yuan, indirectly participated in DeepSeek's funding through Hangzhou Chengli. The first-round investors were mainly personally selected by Liang Wenfeng. As for how he and Cao Xi established contact, and when the two first discussed investment, we have no way of knowing. But the entry ticket to DeepSeek's funding that Lisi obtained speaks volumes about Boss Cao's connections.
This entry ticket quickly demonstrated its value. In the LP list of the Lisi Xingling Fund, Zhejiang Provincial Jintou Sci-Tech Innovation Mother Fund Phase III had already appeared, holding approximately 6.9% of the fund shares, roughly equivalent to about 200 million yuan in contributions based on the fund's scale. Zhejiang state capital thus entered DeepSeek's indirect investment network. Some media disclosed that state capital participation in the first round was not high—only the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund directly invested in DeepSeek, contributing approximately 980 million yuan, without lock-up restrictions and with company voting rights.
By the second round, cooperation between Zhejiang state capital and Boss Cao expanded further. In early November, another Lisi fund, Tianjin Lisi Xingshen, completed a fundraising of 7.52 billion yuan with 40 LPs participating, and Lisi continued to obtain DeepSeek investment shares. Among them, Zhejiang Innovation Deep Intelligence Venture Capital Partnership subscribed 1.4 billion yuan as the fund's second-largest contributor, while Zhejiang Provincial Sci-Tech Innovation Strategic Emerging and Sci-Tech Innovation Future funds each subscribed 50 million yuan. The three Zhejiang state capital entities collectively subscribed 1.5 billion yuan.
From approximately 200 million yuan in the first round to 1.5 billion yuan in the second round, Zhejiang state capital's subscription scale to Lisi-related funds has increased significantly. However, Xingshen is a blind pool fund, and publicly available information cannot yet prove that all 1.5 billion yuan was actually invested in DeepSeek, nor has Lisi made any public response.
In capital circles, being able to find money is one skill, and being able to find good projects is another. Cao Xi happens to possess both. But if you ask me, the ability to secure projects is more important—after all, how many people are holding money wanting to invest in DeepSeek but cannot find a way in, while Boss Cao gets it effortlessly.
Hengdian Assembles the Group, Zhejiang Merchants Gather
Unlike official capital entering the fray, when jianghu figures join in, there is usually a leading big brother. Hengdian Group's boss Xu Wenrong is like that big brother among Zhejiang's private capital.
Many people know Hengdian because it is home to one of China's largest film and television production bases. Palaces, street markets, and jianghu grudges from period dramas are often staged here. But Hengdian's real business story began much earlier than the film city.
In 1975, Xu Wenrong led local farmers to establish a silk reeling factory, which later gradually developed into industries including magnetic materials, pharmaceutical chemicals, and electronic electrical products. By the 1990s, Hengdian Group had become a pivotal enterprise in the region. In 1996, construction of Hengdian Film City began, giving rise to the later nationally renowned film and television industry.
Xu Wenrong is a representative figure of Zhejiang's first generation of township entrepreneurs. His entrepreneurial journey almost encapsulates a chapter in the development history of Zhejiang's private economy after reform and opening up: starting from township factories, accumulating capital through manufacturing, then extending into different industries. However, Xu Wenrong had his own understanding of wealth. In 2000, the Hurun China Rich List compiled by Rupert Hoogewerf listed Xu Wenrong as one of China's wealthiest entrepreneurs. Xu Wenrong later approached Hoogewerf to explain that Hengdian Group's assets could not simply be counted as his personal wealth. Hengdian Group has a unique collective economy background and is not the Xu family's private enterprise. Since then, Xu Wenrong and his family have rarely appeared on rich lists.
In Chinese business society, measuring an entrepreneur's influence by wealth figures is one way; how many industrial resources he can organize is another matter entirely. Decades later, Hengdian Group has grown into a large enterprise group with annual revenue exceeding 95 billion yuan, owning multiple listed companies. Xu Wenrong has gradually stepped back, but Hengdian's industrial and capital network continues to expand. In 2026, this network may extend to DeepSeek.
On June 8, Hengdian Bohui Venture Capital (Hangzhou) Partnership was established. On September 18, the fund completed filing. Starting in late September, a batch of Zhejiang listed companies successively disclosed investment announcements. Transfar Zhilian came, Youngor came, Wynca came, and Hengdian DMEGC, Dbang Lighting, Innuovo, Jiansheng Group, Nanhua Futures and other enterprises also appeared on the contributor list. The founders and actual controllers of these companies are all prominent figures in Zhejiang's business community. They represent a group of private enterprises that have collectively experienced manufacturing expansion, capital market development, and industrial transformation. Each has gone through decades of industrial cycles and completed capital accumulation in different fields.
For this group of seniors who have operated in Zhejiang's business community for many years, that Guangdong young man who came to Hangzhou to study at seventeen over two decades ago is now someone they are eager to befriend. According to listed company announcements, the Hengdian Bohui Fund plans to raise 1.65 billion yuan, with investment direction targeting high-growth technology enterprises. Hengdian Capital serves as the fund manager, with Xu Jiawei as the legal representative of Hengdian Capital. From public documents, these enterprises' contributions to the fund were not completed on the same day, but rather joined gradually as the fund expanded. In Transfar Zhilian's September disclosure, arrangements for Hengdian Bohui's expansion to 1.65 billion yuan had already appeared. Subsequently, Youngor and other enterprises continued to disclose related investments. According to people close to Hengdian Capital, Hengdian Capital obtained approximately 1.5 billion yuan in DeepSeek second-round investment shares. If this information is ultimately confirmed by delivery documents, then Hengdian Bohui's 1.65 billion yuan fund scale would be quite close to the DeepSeek investment shares obtained.
The Richest Man Makes His Move, Tycoons Place Their Bets
Compared to the collective investment organized by Hengdian Capital, Zhejiang's richest man Zhong Shanshan entered DeepSeek in a much more discreet manner. After reviewing public equity data, Zhong Shanshan, through affiliated investment entities, passed through multiple layers of partnerships including Guanzi Equity Investment (Lishui), Tianjin Huixing, and Tianjin Huiqi, ultimately entering Hangzhou Chengli and indirectly participating in DeepSeek's first funding round. The investment scale is estimated by media at approximately 350 million yuan.
This entrepreneur, who accumulated enormous wealth through Nongfu Spring and Wantai Biological, appearing in a foundation model company's investment network is somewhat surprising. The outside world calls Zhong Shanshan a "lone wolf of business," always operating solo. Born in Zhejiang, he worked as a journalist and salesman in his early years before entering the drinking water industry and founding Nongfu Spring. His main wealth has long been concentrated in consumer goods and biomedicine, and he rarely appears in public as a technology investor. However, low profile does not mean no action. According to Xizhi Technology's Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing application documents, Guanzi Venture Capital once appeared in the pre-listing shareholder list of this AI optical computing chip enterprise. Now, by participating in DeepSeek through affiliated funds, Zhong Shanshan's investment portfolio has expanded to cover both AI computing power and foundation models.
Another surprising investor is Zhejiang Longsheng. In DeepSeek's first-round funding equity chain, Zhejiang Longsheng, through affiliated entities including Hangzhou Longshan Chemical, Shanghai Lejin, and Shanghai Tanying, ultimately entered Hangzhou Chengli. Based on public equity relationship penetration calculations, this corresponds to approximately 0.086% indirect equity in DeepSeek. Zhejiang Longsheng is known for its dye and chemical businesses. Traditional manufacturing operations such as dyes and chemical intermediates have long formed its industrial foundation. Now, this established listed company has also established a capital connection with an AI large model enterprise through investment platforms.
Geely is a different case. Geely Automobile Industry Fund participated in DeepSeek's second funding round. Compared to Zhong Shanshan and Zhejiang Longsheng's indirect investments through affiliated funds, Geely has more direct AI application scenarios. From smart cockpits and assisted driving to automotive R&D, manufacturing, and supply chain management, AI technology is entering multiple segments of the automotive industry. Geely has also been continuously expanding its intelligent business in recent years. For this automotive group, investing in a foundation model company, beyond potential financial returns, also leaves room for future technological cooperation.
In fact, many traditional industry capital players already appeared in DeepSeek's first funding round. Besides the CATL system reported to have contributed approximately 5 billion yuan, listed companies such as Jiuan Medical and By-Health also indirectly participated through funds. Overall, DeepSeek's second funding round showed a stronger industry orientation in investor selection. It is said that DeepSeek required interested investors to explain the data support and business synergy resources they could provide. Geely, Shixi Capital established by GigaDevice, Legend Capital affiliated with Lenovo, and SMIC Capital—institutions with industry backgrounds—became new faces in this funding round.
Behind new elites, there are ultimately old fortunes. The arrival of old money gives this technology upstart a touch of gravitas. In this gathering, some value the wealth returns that technological transformation may bring, some hope to find new growth opportunities for existing industries, and others simply want a seat in the next round of technological competition—buying a ticket to the future. Old friends or new acquaintances—once seated at the same table, they are all friends. Come, let's drink to that first.
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