DeepSeek closed its first-ever external funding round on June 16, 2026, raising approximately 51 billion yuan (about $7.4 billion) at a post-money valuation between $52 billion and $59 billion, per The Information and The Next Web (citing Reuters). Founder Liang Wenfeng personally committed roughly 20 billion yuan – the round’s controlling share – while Tencent Holdings invested about 10 billion yuan and battery maker CATL invested about 5 billion yuan, per CNBC and Silicon Republic. Pandaily reports additional participation from JD.com and NetEase. Deal terms gave most commercial investors no voting rights and a five-year lockup, with capital channeled through a limited partnership controlled by Liang, per The Information and Tech Times. China’s state-backed National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund received direct equity with voting rights and no lockup – the only investor granted governance rights, per Tech Times. Multiple outlets including Pandaily and CNBC noted the absence of Alibaba and ByteDance from the investor roster.