DeepSeek pauses second fundraising round after online reports of founder comments, Bloomberg says

Reuters reported that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has told prospective investors in its second fundraising round that it is suspending the deal for now, according to Bloomberg News citing people familiar with the matter. DeepSeek verbally informed some potential backers that they would not be signing investment agreements in the coming days, Bloomberg said, and might resume the process later. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek had planned a fresh fundraise at a valuation of about 500 billion yuan ($74 billion) after a maiden round that raised about $7.4 billion. The pause was reportedly driven in part by founder Liang Wenfeng's frustration over online reports on comments he made to investors during the first fundraising round. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the Bloomberg account and could not immediately reach DeepSeek for comment outside regular business hours. Reuters also reported last week that DeepSeek had started early deliberations on a potential IPO on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR Market.