DeepSeek Funding Round Nears $75B Valuation Amid CAC Data Probe

A funding sprint with a regulatory asterisk

China's leading AI labs are racing toward public markets, and the paper valuations behind them have climbed quickly. DeepSeek is reportedly close to raising at least 80 billion yuan from backers including Tencent and battery maker CATL. Moonshot AI, the Beijing company behind the Kimi chatbot, has closed what it calls its final private round at roughly $50 billion and is preparing a Hong Kong IPO that could raise up to $5 billion as early as the first quarter of 2027 1.

One detail sits awkwardly beside the deal momentum. Both companies are reportedly under scrutiny from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) over allegations involving data routing to Anthropic's Claude 1. Little has been disclosed publicly about the scope of the inquiry or what exactly is alleged. The timing still matters: it lands as both firms ask investors, and soon public markets, to price them as national champions.

DeepSeek's round: bigger, pricier, and selective about investors

The DeepSeek raise appears to be growing. Reporting suggests the oversubscribed round could reach as much as $15 billion 3. It implies a valuation target of about 500 billion yuan, or roughly $75 billion 23. That is a sharp jump from the roughly 350 billion yuan mark set in a June raise only four months earlier 3. That earlier round brought in around $7.4 billion at a post-money valuation above $50 billion 2.

DeepSeek is also choosing who gets in. The company is reportedly turning away private funds pooled from individual investors and limiting the round mostly to state-backed funds and corporate strategics 3. Geely Auto, Monolith Management and Loyal Valley Capital have been named as committed backers alongside Tencent and CATL 3. On listing plans, DeepSeek has reportedly hired CITIC Securities to work toward Shanghai's STAR Market. It has not set an offering size and has not disclosed revenue 2.

Curating the investor base this way looks like a deliberate choice. Strategic and state-linked capital tends to be patient and politically well connected. That combination could prove useful if regulators ask hard questions.

Moonshot's steep climb

Moonshot's valuation curve is even steeper. The company was valued at about $4.3 billion at the start of 2026. It then raised a $500 million Series C in January and $3.5 billion in July, and now targets a valuation of at least $50 billion 2. It claims more than $300 million in annualized recurring revenue. It reportedly filed confidentially in Hong Kong and has explored a dual listing with Shanghai 2. Its Kimi K3 model was released with open weights in late July 2.

Accounts differ slightly on Moonshot's status. One describes a closed final round at roughly $50 billion 1. Another frames $50 billion or more as a target 2. The gap is small, but it suggests the headline figure may still depend on how the IPO is received.

The listed peers offer a warning

Two Chinese rivals already trade publicly, and their charts are sobering. Z.ai (Zhipu) carries a market capitalization of about $63 billion and is up more than sevenfold year to date. It has also fallen more than 50% since late June, on first-half revenue of around $136 million 2. MiniMax is worth about $16 billion and sits roughly 75% below its March high, with about $117 million in first-half revenue 2.

Those figures point to a market that will pay very high multiples for Chinese foundation-model exposure, then withdraw sharply. A $75 billion private price for DeepSeek, with no disclosed revenue, rests on confidence that it can avoid that pattern.

What the CAC probe could mean

Without more detail, any reading of the data-routing allegations is provisional. The basic tension is clear, though. Beijing has promoted homegrown models as evidence of self-reliance. Any suggestion that top labs routed data through a US model such as Claude touches on data-security rules, model provenance and national-champion branding all at once. If substantiated, it could raise awkward questions for prospectus disclosures and for investors pricing these companies as independent technology leaders.

The most likely outcome is that the funding goes ahead, given the strategic and state-backed demand. The probe is better understood as a source of friction on the road to listing. Regulators appear to be signaling that rapid valuation growth will not mean lighter oversight. For DeepSeek and Moonshot, how they handle the CAC may affect their IPO prospects as much as any benchmark result.