DeepSeek Reportedly Suspends Second-Round Financing Over Leaked Meeting Minutes
DeepSeek has reportedly suspended its second-round financing plans, which aimed for a valuation of 500 billion RMB (approximately $69 billion USD). The decision was prompted by founder Liang Wenfeng's dissatisfaction with leaked meeting minutes containing his remarks to investors during the first funding round. As one of the most prominent AI startups globally, DeepSeek's funding activities are closely watched, and a suspension at this scale highlights the sensitive nature of investor relations and information security in the high-stakes AI market. It also reflects the challenges Chinese AI firms face in balancing massive capital needs with strategic confidentiality. Although the current round is paused, DeepSeek has not ruled out restarting the financing process in the future. Additionally, the company has reportedly begun preliminary feasibility studies for an initial public offering (IPO) on China's STAR Market.
## BACKGROUND
Founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng and backed by the quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, DeepSeek is a Chinese AI company that gained global attention for developing highly cost-effective open-weight large language models like DeepSeek-R1. The company previously completed a successful first funding round, raising approximately $7.4 billion.