DeepSeek raised more than 50 billion yuan in its first funding round, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing The Information.
The funding round required investors to pour capital into a limited partnership managed by CEO Liang Wenfeng rather than into DeepSeek itself, helping preserve founder control, the report said.
Investors would be subject to a five-year lock-up period and will not have voting rights, while China's National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund will be the exception with voting rights and exemption from the lock-up, Reuters said.
Liang invested 20 billion yuan of his own money into the funding round, while Tencent (HKG:0700) was considering 10 billion yuan and CATL (SHE:300750, HKG:3750) was contemplating about 5 billion yuan, according to a previous Reuters report.
(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

