DeepSeek, the Hangzhou‑based artificial‑intelligence lab, is moving toward a public listing after a rapid climb in valuation. Bloomberg reports the company is already working with accounting and banking advisers to finish its financial statements by the end of December, a prerequisite for any filing. While the exact exchange remains undecided, market observers expect a mainland China or Hong Kong venue, mirroring the paths taken by domestic rivals Zhipu and MiniMax.
The push for an IPO comes on the heels of a $7 billion outside financing round that closed in June. That round valued DeepSeek at roughly $50 billion, a steep rise from the $10 billion valuation when the company first opened to external capital in April. Sources say the lab is now courting new investors for a second round that could command a pre‑money valuation of at least 480 billion yuan—about $71 billion. The target raise is at least 10 billion yuan (approximately $1.5 billion), but the final amount could be several times higher depending on investor participation.
DeepSeek’s fundraising structure is unusual. Only China’s National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund received direct equity and voting rights. All other backers invested through a limited partnership controlled by founder Liang Wenfeng, giving them no vote and a five‑year lock‑up. Despite the restrictive terms, the round was reportedly oversubscribed, underscoring strong demand for the lab’s technology.
Revenue growth bolsters the lofty valuation. The lab’s annualized revenue recently hit between $400 million and $500 million, driven largely by cloud access to its models. In June, DeepSeek accounted for nearly 23% of the enterprise AI gateway tokens processed by Vercel, second only to Anthropic. The company’s open‑source reasoning models perform near the level of leading U.S. labs, even though export controls limit China’s access to advanced Nvidia chips. DeepSeek runs its cloud service on Huawei hardware, demonstrating that a competitive AI stack can be built without American silicon.
Liang Wenfeng’s personal stake has exploded in value. With roughly 78% ownership, his holdings are now worth about $36 billion on paper, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index—more than double the $16.7 billion valuation recorded a few months earlier. That makes him the world’s wealthiest AI founder, surpassing Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Greg Brockman.
Looking ahead, DeepSeek says it will prioritize long‑term research over short‑term commercialization, continuing to release open‑source models on its path toward artificial general intelligence. The company’s next steps—finalizing its private round, completing financial statements, and filing an IPO—will test whether its growth can be sustained under the scrutiny of public shareholders.
Questo articolo è stato scritto con l'assistenza dell'IA.
News Factory APP - notizie agentiche per potenziare il tuo SEO e AEO.