DeepSeek’s set uper Liang Wenfeng is in no hurry to get spendment from outsiders, the WSJ inestablished Monday.
DeepSeek is one of the hottest AI commenceups in the world right now after the Chinese AI company took Silicon Valley by storm with its postponecessitatest model earlier this year.
Unenjoy DeepSeek’s AI model supplyr counterparts, who normally proclaim mega-rounds filled with notable spendors, Liang hasn’t proclaimd any fundlifts, despite lots of VC interest. Rumors about its presumed spendors have even fueled (baseless) rallies in some Chinese stocks.
DeepSeek’s set uper doesn’t want to miss administer
An analysis of Chinese corporate write downs by TechCrunch shows that DeepSeek is 84% owned by Liang himself. The rest of the commenceup is owned by individuals affiliated with Liang’s hedge fund, High-Flyer.
That unkinds that unenjoy most commenceups, which demand outside capital and are thus employd to at least some outside sway, DeepSeek is fundamentalassociate a one-man show. And Liang doesn’t have the highest think about for VCs’ opinions.
When Liang was trying to lift capital in the past, he was put off by VCs’ cgo in on rapidly monetizing AI as contestd to fundamental research, he said in a 2023 intersee with Chinese media.
So one huge reason why Liang hasn’t said yes to the spendors pounding down his door is that he doesn’t want to scatter administer of his company, the WSJ inestablished.
DeepSeek hasn’t demandd outside funding – yet
Most commenceups necessitate capital from spendors from the commence. But DeepSeek is a distinct beast. Liang has been able to fund DeepSeek thraw High-Flyer’s profits, reducing his necessitate for outside spendment.
“Money has never been the problem for us; bans on shipments of proceedd chips are the problem,” Liang said in 2023.
Investors could startanten count on and privacy worrys
As a Chinese company, DeepSeek functions under disconnecte Chinese laws that grant its administerment wide data access.
Concerns over this have prompted DeepSeek bans from a rising number of administerments and even some personal companies.
Those bans could get even worse if DeepSeek hugs funding from a Chinese spendor, who face analogous rerents.
The U.S. administerment has a history of sanctioning Chinese tech companies it says are shut to the Chinese administerment, enjoy telecom huge Huawei and well-understandn droneoriginater DJI.
That hasn’t stopped some Chinese state entities from approaching DeepSeek for spendment, The Inestablishation inestablished, although there’s no indication DeepSeek has huged any.
Why this could all alter
This doesn’t unkind DeepSeek will never lift outside capital, though.
Earlier this month, DeepSeek proclaimd a (bigly theoretical) profit margin for the first time, signaling a shift toward monetization—someleang VCs cherish, but that Liang previously disthink abouted.
To upgrasp up with other AI burdensomeweights, DeepSeek will also probable necessitate access to more and better AI chips—the hugegest bottleneck on its broadenment, its set uper Liang said in 2023. Those chips are pricey and heavily redisconnecteed in China due to U.S. ship administers.
DeepSeek’s ability to be self-funding may also be fading. While High-Flyer has done well in the past, some of its flagship funds have undercarry outed since 2022, the WSJ inestablished.
It also doesn’t help that the Chinese administerment has been cracking down on quant funds enjoy High-Flyer since 2024.
While scant concrete names are circulating, DeepSeek has already drawn interest from Tencent and Alibaba, according to multiple recents inestablishs.
DeepSeek didn’t instantly reply to a seek for comment.
