DeepSeek приостановил раунд на 480 млрд юаней из-за утечки слов основателя

DeepSeek has paused its second round of investment fundraising — Bloomberg reported this on July 24, 2026. The company's founder, Liang Wenfeng, verbally asked potential investors to hold off on their commitments after his comments from closed-door meetings leaked and went viral on Chinese social media; the round had targeted a pre-money valuation of around 480 billion yuan.

Why DeepSeek put the round on pause

DeepSeek halted its fundraising because of a leak: Liang Wenfeng's remarks, made during private meetings with potential backers, ended up on Chinese social media and spread virally. According to Bloomberg, it was after this that the founder personally and verbally asked investors to hold off on participating — the company made no formal announcement about closing or canceling the deal.

• Date of the Bloomberg report — July 24, 2026
• Target pre-money valuation of the round — around 480 billion yuan
• Reason for the pause — the leak of founder Liang Wenfeng's comments
• The comments were made at closed-door meetings with investors
• The initiative to pause came from Liang himself

Liang

Wenfeng verbally asked potential investors to hold off on the round.

— according to Bloomberg, July 24, 2026

How much DeepSeek wanted to raise

The round had targeted a pre-money valuation of around 480 billion yuan — roughly $66 billion at the current exchange rate (about 7.2–7.3 yuan per dollar). A pre-money valuation refers to a company's worth before new money is injected, and a figure at that level would have put DeepSeek among the world's largest private AI companies. Bloomberg does not disclose the exact amount to be raised or the list of investors — publicly known are only the target valuation and the fact that this was the lab's second round.

What DeepSeek is known for

DeepSeek is a Chinese AI lab that grew out of the quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer; its founder is the very same Liang Wenfeng. The company gained worldwide fame in January 2025, when the release of its open model DeepSeek-R1 showed performance comparable to OpenAI's products and triggered a sharp drop in US tech stocks, including Nvidia. Since then, the company's valuation and investor interest in it have steadily risen.

That is exactly why the pause in the second round is a notable event: this concerns one of the most expensive private AI companies, and the reason for the halt lies not in the business numbers but in a reputational incident around the founder's remarks.

What this means

For the market, this is a signal of just how fragile AI mega-rounds have become: a single leak of private comments can put a deal valued at hundreds of billions of yuan on pause. So far DeepSeek has announced neither new timelines nor a cancellation of the round — the fundraising status remains open, and the further fate of the 480 billion yuan deal depends on how the company handles the reputational blow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did DeepSeek pause the round?

Because of a leak: comments made by founder Liang Wenfeng at closed-door meetings with investors ended up on Chinese social media and went viral. After that, according to Bloomberg, Liang himself asked backers to hold off on the round.

What was the valuation of DeepSeek's round?

The round had targeted a pre-money valuation of around 480 billion yuan — roughly $66 billion at the current exchange rate. It was the company's second funding round.

Who is Liang Wenfeng?

Liang Wenfeng is the founder of DeepSeek and of the associated quant fund High-Flyer. His public and private statements directly affect how investors perceive the company, as the current incident confirms.