Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek is nearing a pre-IPO funding round targeting 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) at a 500 billion yuan ($74 billion) valuation ahead of a planned 2027 listing on Shanghai's Star Market. The raise is propelled by a tenfold revenue surge to 475 million yuan ($70.7 million) in the first seven months of 2026. While DeepSeek's scale remains smaller than U.S. rivals OpenAI and Anthropic, its high efficiency enables an 82.9% gross margin on its core API business.
DeepSeek funding round valuation
- ▪DeepSeek is seeking to raise 50 billion yuan, equivalent to approximately 7.4 billion dollars, in its upcoming pre-initial public offering funding round.
- ▪DeepSeek is nearing a pre-initial public offering funding round that values the artificial intelligence startup at approximately 500 billion yuan, or 74 billion dollars.
- ▪DeepSeek is preparing for a potential initial public offering on Shanghai's Star Market, with plans to file as early as late 2026 and debut in 2027.
- ▪Investors participating in DeepSeek's funding round include existing backers Monolith, Shixiang Capital, and Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited, alongside prospective new investors CPE, Legend Capital, and Stony Creek Capital.
Revenue growth tenfold increase
- ▪DeepSeek recorded a net loss of approximately 715 million yuan, or 106 million dollars, between January and July 2026, down from a net loss of 935 million yuan for the full year of 2025.
- ▪DeepSeek generated approximately 475 million yuan, or 70.7 million dollars, in revenue during the first seven months of 2026, representing a tenfold increase compared to its total revenue for all of 2025.
API profit margins
- ▪DeepSeek achieved an overall gross margin of 44.6% and a gross margin of 82.9% for its core business of selling model access through application programming interfaces during the first seven months of 2026.
- ▪DeepSeek maintains high profit margins by optimizing its artificial intelligence infrastructure to run models efficiently using fewer graphics processing chips.
Infrastructure spending increases
- ▪DeepSeek is building a dedicated development team to compete with Anthropic's Claude Code in the market for agentic coding tools that automate tasks for business professionals.
- ▪DeepSeek spent approximately 11 billion yuan, or 1.6 billion dollars, on artificial intelligence infrastructure-related expenses during the first seven months of 2026, representing a nearly tenfold increase from 1.2 billion yuan in 2025.
OpenAI Anthropic revenue comparison
- ▪OpenAI recorded 5.7 billion dollars in revenue with a 39% gross margin during the first quarter of 2026.
- ▪Anthropic generated 11.5 billion dollars in revenue during the second quarter of 2026 and projected its full-year gross margin to rise to 63%.
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