Chinese AI phenom DeepSeek is closing in on a $7.4 billion funding round, at around a $52 billion valuation, in one of the country’s largest startup raises.
Tech giant Tencent and battery pioneer CATL are reportedly among the investors in the maiden fundraise, along with a state-backed AI investment fund.
DeepSeek and other Chinese startups are increasingly looking to take on Silicon Valley, using cheaper costs as their main selling point. A corporate spending tracker showed more US firms are making direct payments to DeepSeek.
The startup recently made a 75% discount on its flagship AI model permanent, “a disruptive assault on the capital-heavy business models of Silicon Valley’s frontier labs,” a veteran US tech journalist wrote.