According to DeepTech Beat monitoring, The Information reported that DeepSeek has initiated its first external funding round. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that this round could raise up to $73.5 billion (¥500 billion), with a post-money valuation expected to exceed $51.5 billion (¥350 billion), making it the largest single AI funding in China's history.

Founder of DeepSeek, Wenfeng Liang, plans to personally contribute up to ¥20 billion, subscribing to approximately 40% of this round's shares. The China National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund is expected to be the second-largest investor.

With the infusion of capital, DeepSeek's commercialization roadmap will accelerate significantly:
- Core Update V4.1: set to be released in June, with a focus on strengthening enterprise tools, natively supporting MCP (Model Context Protocol), and adding image and audio processing capabilities (note: generation-side remains text-only).
- Core Talent Departures and Response: the new funds will be used to expand computing power, enhance employee salaries, and issue stock options. Recently, a key contributor to DeepSeek V3, Fuli Luo, has moved to Xiaomi to lead its AI department, while another core researcher, Daya Guo, has been poached by Bytedance with a lucrative offer.

Facing soaring computational costs and intense talent competition, DeepSeek's long-held "no external funding, no revenue pressure" pure research lab model has reached its limit. Embracing state-backed funding and launching enterprise-grade tools signifies its necessity to address the stark reality of self-sustainability.