16:42 - 22.06.2026

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June 22, Fineko/abc.az. During the debut round of financing, Chinese AI developer DeepSeek attracted record investments, securing the status of the most expensive AI startup in the country.

ABC.AZ reports that as part of the round, the company managed to raise $7.4 bn, as a result of which DeepSeek's total market valuation exceeded the threshold of $50 bn.

Key parameters of a corporate release:

Investment from the founder: The founder of the company, Liang Wenfeng, who owned almost 90% of the startup's shares before this stage, personally invested nearly $3 bn, which was the largest one-time contribution in the round.

Investor pool and technological goals: Other anchor investors of DeepSeek included Chinese technology giant Tencent and the world's largest battery manufacturer CATL. Liang Wenfeng assured investors that all the billions raised will be used to further develop advanced AI systems capable of surpassing human thinking in the future.