DeepSeek Completes Record $7.4 Billion Funding Round with Special Structure to Secure Founder Liang Wenfeng's Control
English summary
DeepSeek has closed its first funding round, raising over 50 billion RMB ($7.4 billion) at a valuation exceeding $50 billion, marking the largest single round in China's AI industry. The deal employs a unique transaction structure where all external investments, except from the national AI industry fund, are injected into a limited partnership managed by founder Liang Wenfeng rather than directly into DeepSeek. Investors face a five-year lock-up period with no voting rights, a condition aimed at attracting long-term capital aligned with Liang's open-source philosophy. Liang personally invested 20 billion RMB, while Tencent is considering a 10 billion RMB investment and CATL plans 5 billion RMB as the largest external backers. Additionally, the team required verification of all limited partners' identities behind investment funds to prevent unknown capital inflows.
Chinese summary
DeepSeek完成首轮融资，筹集超500亿元人民币（74亿美元），估值超500亿美元，创中国AI行业单轮融资纪录。交易采用特殊架构，除国家AI产业基金外，所有外部投资注入由梁文锋管理的有限合伙企业，而非直接投向DeepSeek主体。投资者须遵守五年锁定期且无表决权，以筛选长期资本，梁文锋坚定主张AI开源普惠。梁文锋个人跟投200亿元，腾讯正考虑投资100亿元，宁德时代计划投资50亿元。此外，团队要求核查出资基金背后的LP真实身份，规避股权流入不明主体的风险。
Key points
DeepSeek raised over 50 billion RMB ($7.4B) in its first funding round, the largest single round in China's AI history, at a valuation above $50B.
DeepSeek首轮融资超500亿元人民币（74亿美元），估值超500亿美元，是中国AI行业规模最大的单轮融资。
A special deal structure channels external investments into a limited partnership controlled by founder Liang Wenfeng, not directly into the company, with a 5-year lock-up and no voting rights.
采用特殊交易架构，外部资金注入梁文锋管理的有限合伙企业而非DeepSeek主体，设五年锁定期且无表决权。
Liang Wenfeng personally invested 20B RMB; Tencent is considering a 10B RMB investment and CATL 5B RMB as the largest external investors.
梁文锋个人跟投200亿元，腾讯考虑投资100亿元，宁德时代计划投资50亿元，为最大外部投资方。
The team required stringent LP identity checks to prevent equity from flowing into unknown entities.
团队要求核查所有出资基金的LP真实身份，规避股权流入不明主体手中。