DeepSeek pauses fundraising round after founder's leaked comments
Published: 11:19 27 Jul 2026 EDT
DeepSeek has paused its second fundraising round after private comments made by founder Liang Wenfeng were leaked online, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Bloomberg reported that the Chinese AI startup verbally informed prospective investors that investment agreements expected to be signed in the coming days would be delayed, although the fundraising could resume at a later date.
The round was targeting at least 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) at a pre-money valuation of between 480 billion yuan and 500 billion yuan ($71 billion to $74 billion), the report said.
The fundraising pause comes weeks after DeepSeek completed a roughly $7 billion financing round in June backed by investors including Tencent Holdings (HKG:0700, OTC:TCEHY) and battery maker CATL.
According to Bloomberg, the decision followed the circulation of unverified transcripts of Liang's private meetings with investors on Chinese social media and technology news outlets.
In the leaked comments, Liang reportedly said China's AI industry continues to trail the United States in areas including funding and computing infrastructure, rather than talent.
He also reportedly acknowledged that DeepSeek remains reliant on Nvidia hardware and is not yet able to train its largest AI models at a scale comparable with leading U.S. developers.
Bloomberg reported that the remarks contrasted with broader narratives highlighting China's progress toward technological self-reliance, contributing to the company's decision to halt the fundraising process temporarily.
