DeepSeek to File for IPO This Year: Report

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has begun preparations for an initial public offering and is aiming to file for a mainland China listing as soon as this year, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter. 

The Hangzhou-based company has reportedly started working with accounting and banking advisers on a filing that could pave the way for a public debut in 2027, although the plans remain subject to change.

The IPO preparations come only weeks after DeepSeek completed its first-ever external fundraising round, raising more than 50 billion yuan (about $7.4 billion) at a valuation exceeding $50 billion. 

The company is also reportedly exploring another financing round that could value it at roughly $71 billion, reflecting growing capital requirements for AI infrastructure, including data centres, chips and research expansion.

Founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng as a spin-off from quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, DeepSeek operated for nearly three years without outside investment. 

Wenfeng previously funded the company using profits from High-Flyer, allowing DeepSeek to pursue AI research independently while avoiding traditional venture capital financing.

When DeepSeek eventually accepted external capital, it adopted an unusual funding structure designed to preserve founder control. 

Rather than purchasing equity directly in the company, most investors invested through a limited partnership managed by Wenfeng, who also contributed around 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) of his own capital to the financing. 

The structure gives Wenfeng effective control while imposing a five-year lock-up period on most investors.

A public listing would place DeepSeek alongside a growing group of Chinese AI companies that have tapped public markets. 

Zhipu AI, developer of the GLM family of large language models, listed earlier this year and recently announced another $4 billion in fundraising to support research, cloud infrastructure and expansion.

MiniMax also completed a multibillion-dollar financing and has disclosed plans to pursue a Hong Kong listing, signalling that China’s largest independent foundation model developers are increasingly turning to public capital markets to finance the escalating costs of frontier AI development.