TechFlow news, February 19 — According to The Information, DeepSeek is considering raising external funding for the first time. To date, DeepSeek has not raised outside capital, partly to avoid investor pressure pushing for rapid commercialization of its products. However, sources familiar with internal discussions revealed that since the company's AI chatbot application surged in popularity weeks ago, it has begun considering external financing due to the need for more AI chips and servers to handle rapidly growing usage and support model development.
According to insiders, in addition to debating whether to raise funds, executives at DeepSeek and its parent quantitative hedge fund firm, High-Flyer Quantitative, are also discussing whether to shift focus from primarily research-driven efforts toward building a business capable of generating substantial revenue and ultimately achieving profitability. It is said that DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng remains cautious about external fundraising.
