DeepSeek is raising a new round at a pre-money valuation of about $71 billion, according to a BlockBeats brief citing Beating AI. Just one month ago, the company completed a first funding round of $7 billion at a valuation of about $52 billion, implying an increase of roughly 37% in a month. Demand appears to remain strong even though the new round reportedly comes with a five-year lock-up and no voting rights.
Investors unable to secure direct allocations have begun seeking indirect exposure through institutions that already obtained quota. Those firms are setting up special purpose vehicles, or SPVs, to pool outside capital. The brief said some first-layer vehicles are charging a 6% entry fee, second-layer structures are charging 8%, and lower-tier channels are asking for more than 15%. In addition, they may take as much as 40% of investment profits. The report contrasted those terms with more typical SPV arrangements, which usually charge around a 2% upfront fee and 20% carried interest.
The secondary structures were not initiated by DeepSeek, the brief said. Financial Times was cited as saying founder Liang Wenfeng has started personally reviewing the final investor list and checking the capital providers behind it, with the aim of preventing shares from ending up in the hands of unidentified entities and reducing governance risks tied to a complicated shareholder structure ahead of a possible future IPO.
DeepSeek is conducting a new financing round at a pre-money valuation of about $71 billion, according to a BlockBeats brief that cited Beating AI. One month ago, the company completed its first funding round, raising $7 billion at a valuation of about $52 billion. That puts the increase in valuation at roughly 37% in the span of a month.
Investor demand has stayed strong even though the new round reportedly requires a five-year lock-up and offers no voting rights. Investors who could not get direct allocations have started looking for indirect access through institutions that already secured quota.
SPV channels are charging steep fees for access
Those institutions are setting up SPVs, or special purpose vehicles created for a single investment, and then raising money from outside investors.
The brief said some first-layer structures are charging a 6% entry fee, while second-layer vehicles are charging 8%. At lower tiers, channel fees have climbed above 15%, and those intermediaries may also take as much as 40% of any investment profit.
For comparison, similar SPV structures usually charge about a 2% upfront fee and 20% of profits. The report added that these off-market arrangements were not initiated by DeepSeek.
FT says Liang Wenfeng is reviewing end investors
The Financial Times was cited as saying that Liang Wenfeng has begun personally reviewing the final list of investors and verifying the capital providers behind them. The stated purpose is to keep shares from ultimately ending up with unidentified parties and to reduce governance risks that a complex shareholder structure could create for a future IPO.
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