DeepSeek Raises $7.4B, Now Worth $50B+

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has reportedly raised over $7.4 billion in new funding, valuing the company at more than $50 billion and making it China's most valuable AI startup. Founder Liang Wenfeng contributed $3 billion to the round, with Tencent reportedly considering a $1.48 billion investment. DeepSeek gained global attention in January 2025 after open-sourcing its R1 reasoning model, which rattled chip stocks and briefly wiped 15% off Nvidia's market cap. Microsoft is now reportedly planning to integrate a customized DeepSeek model into its Cowork Copilot application as a lower-cost alternative to OpenAI and Anthropic models.