DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup, has completed its first fundraising round, securing 50 billion yuan (€6.4 billion) based on a $50 billion valuation, to finance long-term research efforts. The funding round includes no U.S. venture capital firms but features the National AI Investment Fund, launched by Beijing last year, which contributes 1 billion yuan with special voting rights. Most capital comes from owner High Flyer, with the remainder from major Chinese companies including Tencent. Founded three years ago, DeepSeek emerged in January 2025 with V3 and R1 models rivaling OpenAI and Anthropic, despite lacking access to Nvidia’s most advanced GPUs due to export prohibitions. OpenAI suspects DeepSeek relied on its models during development, and US authorities have accused it of illegally acquiring restricted Nvidia chips. DeepSeek claims developing V3 cost $5.6 million, a figure that cannot be independently verified and triggered a 17% plunge in Nvidia’s stock. In April, DeepSeek unveiled its V4 family, claiming performance on par with leading models, though benchmarks have since been surpassed. The Information reported DeepSeek obtained Nvidia’s latest Blackwell GPUs through shell data centers overseas, which the startup insists it relie.