The round reportedly required investors to forgo their voting rights and lock up funds for five years.
Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek has raised more than $7.4bn at a $50bn-plus post money valuation, The Information reported today (16 June).
The highly anticipated round into one of China’s most valuable AI start-ups, however, comes with an unusual condition, the publication said, requiring investors to funnel their funds into a limited partnership managed by DeepSeek founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng rather than the company itself.
Investors’ funds are reportedly subject to a five-year lock up period and will not have voting rights. Wenfeng is also the founder of one of High-Flyer, one of China’s top hedge funds.
According to multiple reports from earlier this month, the funding round into DeepSeek was led by Tencent, which pitched in around $1.5bn, and battery giant Contemporary Amperex (CATL), which invested around $735m into the start-up. Tencent was reported to have proposed taking a 20pc stake in the company.
