The valuation, which Reuters has reported citing sources, comes as the investor list widens past 15 names, with GigaDevice, Meituan, Geely and Midea joining as new investors. On a pre-money basis it is about one-seventeenth of the price in OpenAI's talks.
DeepSeek is raising about 100 billion yuan from more than 15 investors, four people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The round values the company at about 500 billion yuan before the new money, according to earlier Reuters reporting citing sources.
Appliance maker Midea, food-delivery group Meituan, carmaker Geely and chipmaker GigaDevice are new investors, and existing shareholder NetEase also took part. Existing shareholders CATL and Tencent were among the largest investors, two of the people said.
The round is expected to be completed in the coming days, the people said, but the financial details and the investor lineup are not final and could change. Bloomberg has reported the money as already raised. DeepSeek has not commented publicly.
What the numbers imply
At 500 billion yuan, DeepSeek would be valued at about $74.9 billion before the investment. If the full 100 billion yuan is raised, the post-money valuation would be about 600 billion yuan, or roughly $90 billion.
Filings by two Chinese investors in DeepSeek's June round suggest it was valued at about 350.88 billion yuan, or about $52 billion, at that time. That makes the new pre-money figure roughly 42% higher in about four months. The June round raised $7.4 billion.
DeepSeek's original target for this round was 50 billion yuan. It has doubled.
A price gap with the U.S. leader
The same day, people familiar with OpenAI's fundraising said it is raising at $1.25 trillion before new money. On that basis, DeepSeek's reported pre-money value is about one-seventeenth of OpenAI's.
That gap partly reflects differences in revenue, market access and investor base. DeepSeek is shut out of much of the Western market, and U.S. federal agencies were ordered this week to remove its technology. But for private investors valuing AI developers, it is a striking spread between the two most closely watched labs in the U.S. and China.
Strategic buyers set the price
The new names spread the round across chips, autos, appliances and food delivery, and many of the investors are backed by the state or by large industrial groups. Buyers like these may value access to DeepSeek's models for their own businesses as much as a financial return, which could help explain a 42% step-up in four months at a time when public AI stocks are falling.
What to watch
The close of the round, the final investor list, whether any state-linked funds join, and any move toward a public listing.