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Founder's Control Intact in $7.4B AI Deal
24 Jun
Summary
- DeepSeek secured over 50 billion yuan in its first funding round.
- Investors face a five-year lock-up and lack voting rights.
- The AI startup achieved global fame with its V3 and R1 models.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has announced the closing of its first funding round, raising over 50 billion yuan (approximately $7.40 billion). This substantial investment propels the company's valuation beyond $50 billion. The funding structure is intentionally designed to maintain founder control, with investors' capital channeled into a limited partnership managed by DeepSeek's CEO, Liang Wenfeng, rather than directly into the company.
Under this arrangement, investors are bound by a five-year lock-up period and will not possess voting rights. An exception is China's National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, which invested directly and retains both voting privileges and freedom from the lock-up. DeepSeek garnered global attention early last year for its V3 and R1 models, which were highly praised and challenged existing perceptions of China's AI capabilities.
