DeepSeek Is Wrapping Up a Round of About 100 Billion Yuan ($15 Billion), People Familiar Say, With CATL and Tencent Among the Biggest Backers

DeepSeek's latest round appears to have reached about double its original target, according to people who spoke to Bloomberg and Reuters, but Reuters' sources say the terms are not final. Reuters reported on Thursday, October 22, citing four people with knowledge of the matter, that DeepSeek is wrapping up a funding round that has generated about 100 billion yuan ($14.98 billion at Reuters' conversion) from existing and new investors. Reuters said Bloomberg first reported the round that day; Bloomberg, also citing people familiar with the matter, said DeepSeek has raised about 100 billion yuan ($15 billion), which it called one of China's largest ever. Neither outlet named its sources.

A round that grew twice

Bloomberg's sources say DeepSeek raised its financing target at least twice during talks with investors, from 50 billion yuan to 80 billion yuan before reaching the final tally. Reuters says the round has doubled DeepSeek's original target of 50 billion yuan. On October 6, we reported Bloomberg's account that DeepSeek was close to securing at least 80 billion yuan, with CATL and Tencent among the largest commitments.

Reuters says the round values DeepSeek at 500 billion yuan before the new capital, a figure it attributes to its own earlier reporting. Bloomberg's report did not give a valuation.

Who is investing, per the sources

Battery maker CATL and WeChat operator Tencent were among the biggest investors, Bloomberg reported, and two of Reuters' sources said the same. According to Reuters, Midea, Meituan, Geely and GigaDevice joined as new investors, and three of its sources said the others include Boyu Capital, CPE, Legend Capital and existing shareholder IDG Capital. One source told Reuters that more than 15 investors took part. Reuters said many of the investors are backed by the state and big corporations.

Not yet final

The fundraising "is set to be complete in the coming days, but financial details and the investor lineup are not ironclad and could still change," one of Reuters' sources said. Bloomberg reported that DeepSeek, like its rival Moonshot, is preparing for an initial public offering, and Reuters reported in September that DeepSeek had hired CITIC Securities to prepare for a possible listing on the STAR Market. Bloomberg said DeepSeek still has far less financial firepower than Anthropic and OpenAI, "which have each raised more than $100 billion."

Limits

• The amount, the investor names and the growth of the target come from unnamed people cited by Bloomberg and Reuters. DeepSeek, Tencent and CATL did not respond to Bloomberg and could not be reached by Reuters, and we found no statement from the companies in the reports we read.
• Bloomberg's report was read as syndicated by Mint, and Reuters' as syndicated by StreetInsider. The dollar figures are each outlet's own conversion.
• The pre-money valuation is from Reuters' earlier reporting, not from this round's sources.

Sources

• Bloomberg via Mint: DeepSeek raises $15 billion to challenge Anthropic, OpenAI and other US AI labs (October 22, 2026)
• Reuters via StreetInsider: DeepSeek wrapping up $15 billion fundraising to fuel AI race (October 22, 2026)
• Times of AI: DeepSeek nears an 80B-yuan round, Bloomberg reports (October 6, 2026)