DeepSeek raises $7.4 billion（約1.2兆円） at a $50 billion（約8兆円） valuation in its first external funding round, though investors face unusual restrictions including a five-year lock-up and no voting rights.

What happened

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek raised more than 50 billion yuan (about $7.4 billion（約1.2兆円）) in its first external funding round, valuing the company at over $50 billion（約8兆円）. Investors including Tencent and battery maker CATL had to invest through a limited partnership managed by CEO Liang Wenfeng, with no voting rights and a five-year lock-up period—China's state-backed AI investment fund was the sole exception, retaining voting rights. Founder Liang himself invested about 20 billion yuan.

Why it matters

DeepSeek has emerged as a serious competitor to US AI leaders, offering V4—the largest open-weights model to date, running on Huawei chips—at drastically lower prices: 75 percent cheaper on input and 35 times cheaper on output than OpenAI's GPT-5.5. The funding validates the company's business model after gaining global attention with its V3 and R1 models, though DeepSeek's valuation remains modest compared to OpenAI and Anthropic, which are both approaching the trillion-dollar mark.

What to watch

The unusual deal structure—where most investors have no voting rights and face a five-year lock-up—reflects founder Liang's stated priority of foundational AI research and AGI development over short-term profits and his commitment to keep building open-source models. This governance constraint may shape the company's strategic direction and investor dynamics over the coming years.