DeepSeek may shelve fundraising after reported remarks

2026-07-26

Possible plan to shelve fundraising

Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek may shelve a planned fundraising round, Bloomberg reported on the 25th, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company had been aiming to raise at least 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) on the basis of a $71 billion valuation. But it reportedly told some prospective investors verbally that, unlike the original plan, it would not complete a deal within days.

Reported remarks from the last fundraise

DeepSeek raised $7 billion in June from investors including Tencent Holdings. At that time, Chinese media reported comments made by founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng at an investor briefing, and that may have deepened Liang's dissatisfaction.

According to the reports, Liang reportedly referred to Chinese AI performance trailing the United States and to reliance on semiconductors made by Nvidia in development. The related reports are currently inaccessible.

DeepSeek said in January 2025 that it had developed an AI model with performance comparable to US AI at low cost, triggering a sell-off in US tech stocks. In February that year, Liang also attended a roundtable with private-sector business leaders hosted by President Xi Jinping. The company and Liang usually have little media contact, and the reported remarks drew attention.

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