DeepSeek prepares 2027 IPO while seeking $1.5B at $71B valuation

DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based Chinese AI company founded in 2023, is preparing for an initial public offering targeting 2027, with IPO filing potentially as early as 2026. According to Bloomberg and Financial Times reports from July 14, the company has begun discussions with accounting and banking advisors and is simultaneously pursuing a new funding round of approximately $1.5 billion at a $71 billion pre-money valuation.

This new fundraising round follows DeepSeek's first-ever outside funding round completed in May 2026, in which the company raised $7 billion at a $50 billion valuation. The rapid valuation increase—from $50 billion to $71 billion in less than two months—reflects investor confidence in the company's technology and market position. According to Bloomberg, DeepSeek's leadership has signaled to potential investors that the company will prioritize breakthrough AI research over near-term commercialization.

DeepSeek gained global prominence in early 2025 after releasing its R1 large language model, which demonstrated efficiency and cost-effectiveness advantages over U.S. competitors. As of June 2026, the company accounted for nearly 23% of tokens processed through Vercel's enterprise AI gateway, compared to Anthropic's 32%. The company operates on Huawei Technologies chips, enabling it to advance despite U.S. export controls on semiconductors. Major investors include Tencent and Beijing's National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund.

The new funding is intended to support infrastructure expansion, including increased computing capacity needed for model training and deployment. Founder Liang Wenfeng has committed to continuing the company's open-source model approach and pursuing artificial general intelligence (AGI) as a long-term objective. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Liang's net worth has surged to approximately $36 billion following the May funding round, making him the wealthiest AI large language model founder globally.