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DeepSeek in talks to raise $1.5B at $71B valuation as it prepares for IPO as early as 2026

· by Pondero Newsdesk

The short version

Bloomberg reported July 14 that DeepSeek is in early talks to raise approximately $1.5 billion at a roughly $71 billion valuation, with a mainland China IPO filing potentially as early as the end of this year.

DeepSeek in talks to raise $1.5B at $71B valuation as it prepares for IPO as early as 2026

DeepSeek's first-ever outside funding round closed at a $50 billion valuation in June. Weeks later, Bloomberg reported the company is in early talks to raise again at $71 billion and may file for a mainland China IPO before the year is out.

What

Bloomberg reported July 14 that DeepSeek is in discussions to raise about $1.5 billion at approximately $71 billion valuation, targeting a Hangzhou listing on the mainland Chinese market with a 2027 debut. An IPO filing could come as early as late 2026, per Bloomberg. TechCrunch independently reported the same details the same day, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. DeepSeek did not respond to requests for comment, per TechCrunch.

The new round would follow a $7 billion raise completed roughly a month earlier at around $50 billion valuation. That prior raise was DeepSeek's first-ever outside funding. Investors from that round include Tencent and Beijing's National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, per Bloomberg as cited by TechCrunch.

DeepSeek was founded in 2023. Its models have closed the gap with frontier US labs despite US chip export controls, and its cloud service runs on Huawei-made chips rather than restricted Nvidia hardware. Enterprise adoption reflects that position: in June 2026, DeepSeek accounted for nearly 23% of all tokens processed through Vercel's AI gateway, versus Anthropic's 32% of the same token pool, per TechCrunch citing Vercel.

Why it matters

A $71 billion valuation would rank DeepSeek among the most valuable AI companies anywhere. More notable is what the round represents structurally: if the talks lead to a public filing, it would be the first IPO preparation by a Chinese open-weights AI lab. That sets a precedent for how Chinese AI companies access public capital markets.

The fundraising velocity is also the signal here. Two consecutive rounds at escalating valuations within weeks suggest institutional investors expect the price to keep rising ahead of a public debut. For AI operators watching the open-weights market, DeepSeek's 23% share of Vercel enterprise tokens shows the lab already operates at enterprise scale, not just as a research alternative. IPO capital would fund the training runs needed to stay competitive with frontier US models.

The Huawei chip dependency is the countervailing risk. US export controls on advanced semiconductors remain active. Any regulatory action that covers Huawei's current AI chips could disrupt DeepSeek's training capacity at the exact moment it is building toward a public offering.

What to watch next

An official DeepSeek statement or a registration filing with China's CSRC would convert sourced reporting to public record. The pace of valuation movement also matters: the jump from $50 billion to a reported $71 billion in under two months suggests the IPO window may be tighter than the 2027 debut date implies. A third round at a higher price, or a filing confirmation, would be the next concrete signal.

Sources