DeepSeek Is Closing In on a $12 Billion Raise Ahead of a Domestic IPO

DeepSeek is about to pull off one of the largest private AI financings on record. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the Chinese AI company is close to securing at least 80 billion yuan — roughly $11.9 billion — in fresh funding, with the total possibly reaching 100 billion yuan, and with Tencent and CATL committing some of the largest amounts.

One of the largest private AI financings on record is taking shape in Hangzhou — and it has already doubled the size DeepSeek originally targeted.

The numbers come with a discipline note that matters: Bloomberg's report rests on people familiar with the matter, Reuters carried it and could not independently verify the figures, and DeepSeek, Tencent, and CATL did not respond to requests for comment. Every figure below is reported, not confirmed. That said, the sourcing chain is about as good as private-market reporting gets.

The raise that doubled its target

DeepSeek is close to raising at least 80 billion yuan — about $11.9 billion — in its latest funding round, with the total possibly reaching 100 billion yuan, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 6. The company initially sought only about 50 billion yuan — at 100 billion, the round would be twice that original target. DeepSeek began the round in July aiming for a 500-billion-yuan valuation — about $74.6 billion, Reuters reported — a month after raising about $7.4 billion in its first outside funding round. Money committed already exceeds the 50-billion-yuan target, and DeepSeek is expected to close the round in October, according to Reuters.

Tencent and CATL are writing the biggest checks

Battery maker CATL and Tencent have committed some of the largest amounts in the round, according to Bloomberg. The pairing does two things at once: it signals deep-pocketed strategic conviction in DeepSeek, and it binds the AI company more tightly to China's domestic tech and industrial champions. For Tencent, already a backer, this is a doubling-down; for CATL, it is a statement that the battery giant wants a seat at the AI table.

A war chest for a domestic listing

The raise is explicitly about what comes next: a domestic IPO. DeepSeek has hired CITIC Securities to prepare for a possible listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, Reuters reported last month — though the timing, valuation, and size all remain undecided. An 80-to-100-billion-yuan round would rank among the largest private AI financings ever, and it gives DeepSeek the luxury of dictating IPO terms rather than accepting them.

The Huawei Ascend thread

The financing also sits inside a bigger story about China's AI self-reliance. DeepSeek released its latest model, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash, last month and has been working with Huawei on programming tools for its Ascend AI chips — part of the push to reduce dependence on Nvidia's ecosystem. Strong model reception is what cracked the raise open: a 50-billion-yuan target became an 80-to-100-billion-yuan round.

The confirmation watchlist

The watch list is short and binary: a formal announcement closing the round, the STAR Market IPO filing, or an on-record denial or a material size cut. Until one of those lands, this stays a reported-but-unconfirmed number — large enough to matter, sourced well enough to take seriously, and hedged honestly. The direction of the error bar, if anything, has been up: this round has only grown from its 50-billion-yuan starting point.