Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek closed its first-ever external fundraising in an unusual and high-stakes deal that could not only reshape the country’s AI landscape but also offer a rare glimpse into how one of China’s most valuable AI start-ups will navigate its next phase of growth, sources and analysts said.

Hangzhou-based DeepSeek now has a post-investment value of about 400 billion yuan (US$59.2 billion) after raising around 50 billion yuan in a Series A round, one source with knowledge of the matter said.

The deal made DeepSeek one of China’s most valuable AI start-ups, surpassing the US$30 billion valuation of Moonshot AI and the US$17.7 billion market capitalisation of Hong Kong-listed MiniMax AI as of Wednesday’s close, though still trailing Zhipu AI’s US$95 billion market value.

Contrary to earlier speculation that the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, commonly known as the Big Fund, would lead the round, Liang Wenfeng, DeepSeek’s low profile founder and CEO, emerged as the largest backer in the round with around 20 billion yuan out of his own pocket, making up nearly half of the total in an unusual arrangement.

Liang’s decision to lead the round would ensure he still steers the direction of the firm after bringing in external investors, as he remained committed to pursuing artificial general intelligence (AGI) – when AI matches human capabilities – a vision he reinforced to investors repeatedly during an online meeting last month, another source said.

Liang told investors at the meeting that what “DeepSeek wants to do is anything relevant to enhance the intelligence” of AI models, and that it had no interest in anything else, the source added.