Deepseek plans $7.35 billion funding round as record Chinese AI investment, while Core Automation reaches $4 billion valuation in six weeks

Deepseek is planning a funding round of up to 50 billion yuan ($7.35 billion), reportedly the largest ever for a Chinese AI company, with founder Liang Wenfeng contributing up to 40 percent of the round and valuation potentially exceeding $51.5 billion.

Deepseek plans to release DeepSeek V4.1 in June featuring more enterprise tools, improved MCP support, and image and audio processing capabilities.

Core Automation, a startup founded by former OpenAI researcher Jerry Tworek six weeks ago, is targeting a valuation of around $4 billion after raising $100 million at a $1 billion valuation, with Nvidia among its backers; the company is building AI models that can keep learning after training.