Tencent, Alibaba in talks to invest in DeepSeek at over US$20 billion valuation: The Information

[BENGALURU] Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group are in discussions to invest in artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek, The Information reported on Wednesday (Apr 22), citing four people with knowledge of the conversations.

DeepSeek, owned by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, is seeking to raise funding at a valuation of more than US$20 billion, after its initial discussions with prospective investors generated immense interest, the report said, citing one of the people.

Alibaba, Tencent and DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters could not independantly verify the report.

The Information reported on Friday that DeepSeek started talks to raise outside capital for the first time, targeting to raise at least US$300 million at a valuation of at least US$10 billion.

The potential fundraise underscores the intense capital requirements for developing and running top-of-the line AI models amid ​the rise of advanced reasoning and agentic ​bots.

The talks are still underway and both the valuation and the amount of capital to be raised could still change, according to the report. REUTERS