IPO News | Rumor has it that DeepSeek hired CITIC Securities to prepare an IPO on the Science and Technology Innovation Board and plans to launch the IPO process this year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on September 9, “Unicorns Know” posted an article on the WeChat account saying that Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek had hired CITIC Securities to prepare for its initial public offering (IPO) on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. According to people familiar with the matter, the Hangzhou-based AI company plans to officially launch the IPO process in 2026. Up to now, the specific release date, fund-raising scale, and target valuation have not been determined.

The DeepSeek capitalization process has progressed intensively over the past four months. The first round of external financing began in April this year, and the settlement was completed in June. The financing was 50 billion yuan, and the post-investment valuation was over 350 billion yuan. Founder Liang Wenfeng personally invested 20 billion yuan, and Tencent (00700), Ningde Times (03750), NetEase (09999), JD (09618), and IDG Capital participated.

The second round of financing is also nearing completion. The pre-investment valuation rose to 500 billion yuan, the financing scale was 50 billion yuan, and the cumulative capital raised in the two rounds exceeded 100 billion yuan. New investors include SMIC Juyuan, Boyu Capital, CPE Yuanfeng, and Hefei State-owned Assets. Old shareholders such as Tencent and Ningde Times continue to pursue investments.

DeepSeek is seeking new capital in this round, mainly for computing power infrastructure, model development, and talent introduction and retention. The company recently experienced a loss of core talent, and some researchers were taken away by competitors such as ByteDance and Xiaomi (01810). On September 7, the company announced an increase in recruitment of 150 people, and currently has about 300 employees.

In terms of industrial layout, DeepSeek participated in the listing and placement of Changxin Technology and Yushu Technology through its funds, investing approximately 175 million yuan and 141 million yuan respectively.