Chinese AI company DeepSeek is preparing for an IPO, according to Bloomberg News.
The AI pioneer, whose high-performing and inexpensive AI model led to Nvidia’s stock tanking by 17% in one day, plans to go public in China in 2027. DeepSeek is reportedly speaking with accounting and banking advisors as it prepares to file as early as this year and start trading next year.
Weeks after closing a record $7 billion round that valued it at $50 billion, DeepSeek is looking to raise more private funding. Talks for a new round of capital targets a pre-money valuation of 480 billion yuan, or $71 billion.
The previous round attracted big names including Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. For this current round, DeepSeek want to raise at least 10 billion yuan, but the final amount could be much higher depending on investor demand.
DeepSeek is currently working with accounting firms to finish its financial reports before the end of the year, which is necessary for the IPO, Bloomberg said.
DeepSeek’s senior management has told potential investors they will prioritize groundbreaking AI research over monetizing the models in the short run. Founder Liang Wenfeng plans to keep developing open-source models while aiming for AGI.
Liang is worth $36 billion as the world’s richest AI model executive, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is worth more than Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei and OpenAI President Greg Brockman. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman does not have a direct equity stake in OpenAI.