DeepSeek Secures 50 Billion RMB in First Round Financing: Alibaba, Tencent, and National Fund Each Invest 10 Billion

According to monitoring by Dongcha Beating, DeepSeek’s first round of financing, amounting to 50 billion RMB, is nearing completion. This round is backed by Alibaba, Tencent, and the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, each contributing 10 billion RMB, along with an additional 20 billion RMB from founder Liang Wenfeng, bringing the company’s valuation to approximately 350 billion RMB. It is rumored that Huawei also participated in the investment negotiations, while traditional top-tier VC and PE firms were unable to secure entry. The initiation of external financing directly alleviates the dual crises of talent and computing power that DeepSeek is facing. Previously, core team member Guo Daya left for ByteDance due to salary discrepancies and insufficient computing power. To stabilize the team, DeepSeek has now doubled its compensation, with core researchers’ options reaching eight figures. On the computing power front, although the V4 model’s real capabilities are approaching GPT-5.4, adapting to underlying chips like Huawei’s Ascend remains challenging, with some operators even requiring DeepSeek employees to assist Huawei in coding. The company urgently needs more funds to directly purchase high-end computing power. With the substantial funding secured, DeepSeek is transitioning from a pure research institution to AI product development and commercial application. The company is accelerating its iteration pace, with plans to release the multimodal large model V4.1 in June, and recent recruitment demands have noticeably shifted towards talents focused on commercial implementation in multimodal and agent roles.