The information about DeepSeek's funding has been widely circulated.
Known information will not be repeated by "elsewhere". Below are some untold stories or plots that we have learned about.
The Legendary Four-Hour Meeting
Let's start with that investor meeting, the legendary "four-hour meeting".
In mid-May, DeepSeek held this online meeting using the Tencent Meeting system. At that time, the investors had already set the stage, with each institution having two participants.
During the meeting, Liang Wenfeng gave a presentation, followed by investors asking questions and Liang providing clarification.
Legend has it that a CVC investor asked questions for a full ten minutes: first a long self-introduction, followed by three lengthy questions. The atmosphere was awkward for a while - this scene is not hard to imagine. Some people whispered to each other, asking who this person was.
But Liang was unfazed and diligently answered each question. Although after answering the second question, he momentarily forgot what the third question was, prompting the other party to repeat it.
Prior to this, even those who had invested had mostly not met Liang Wenfeng in person, so this was their first interaction with Liang. Therefore, after the meeting, many people felt a lingering sense of Liang's presence.
Liang Wenfeng's quotes and spirit began to spread in the market.
Restraint and AGI
Liang Wenfeng is not a very eloquent person, and his speech is not fast-paced. However, a few quotes from that meeting are often mentioned (paraphrased, actual quotes may vary) -
"We have no fame or appeal; we are a very ordinary group of people."
"The narrative I like is that an ordinary group of people has done extraordinary things. For DeepSeek, our core is to ensure the stability of the team - this is more important than money and resources. This is the biggest risk and the greatest challenge."
"Assuming AGI will account for 20% of GDP, 5% of people who want 5% will lose to those who want 1%, those who want 1% will lose to those who want 0.1%."
「What we want to do is something related to enhancing intelligence, and we won't do anything else.」
「AGI is a big enough thing; everything else is just a process.」
Throughout the four hours, Liang Wenzheng repeatedly emphasized the same issues: such as solely pursuing AGI; less is more; restraint, and so on.
From 50 Billion to 15 Billion
The official fundraising probably started around April this year. It is said that there is a so-called "Fund Whitelist," which includes some institutions with investment capabilities and a good brand.
Initially, DeepSeek requested a minimum amount of 50 billion, no syndication of shares, and a pure RMB structure.
Against this backdrop, a well-known investor who was initially rumored to participate but ultimately did not, was rumored in the arena because he had sold shares to Middle Eastern LPs.
However, in China, there are not many market funds that can invest a single 30 billion. So, some VCs repeatedly communicated whether the participation could be divided into multiple fund entities.
Therefore, from the results, the minimum investment amount for the fund was lowered to 15 billion, and the fundraising method became more flexible.
There was also a saying that participating institutions would be better off not having invested in other large models. This is probably impossible for a straightforward reason—having not invested in large models but still being a top-tier fund is very contradictory.
At an investor meeting, Liang Wenzheng also expressed that DeepSeek is willing to help other companies—even including large model companies. Of course, the premise is still that the other party does not come to poach his people.
Monolith
Monolith Deliberation Capital appeared very early in the list of investors. However, the change was that the initial version was 15 billion, and the final was 30 billion.
Regarding the change in the numbers, it is said to be related to the adjustment of Guozhi Investment's amount, releasing some shares—from the latter's figure of 980 million RMB, it is not difficult to see that it seems to be less than 1 billion as a whole integer.
However, in any case, the courage to bet is indeed Cao Xi's distinctive style. He has already proven it once on Kimi.
Monolith should be the youngest VC among the institutions invested in this round.
Zhengxin Valley
Zhengxin Valley may be the most surprising presence on the final list.
Many people interpreted that in the wave of large-scale investments in China, Zhengxin Valley had not invested in any project, so they were more eager to get involved. However, according to our information, they actually invested in Kimi, probably between $6 billion and $10 billion. But compared to the size of their fund, the amount they invested is relatively limited.
One market interpretation is that the founder of Zhengxin Valley comes from a background in secondary markets and seems to have a closer connection with Huanfang. However, in reality, in the secondary market, quantitative trading and subjective investment are actually two completely different circles, even two different value systems.
From what we understand, the reason this investment took place was not only due to Lin Lijun and his partner Ye Chunyan but also due to the efforts of a new incoming investor.
Zhengxin Valley was also one of the VCs that started communicating with DeepSeek earliest.
Will DeepSeek Be Sequoia Capital China and Hillhouse Capital's Biggest Miss?
Now comes the most surprising part of this deal.
In the initial rumors, Hillhouse was supposed to participate and invest $5 billion. Zhang Lei also expressed to friends multiple times that since 2025, he had been in contact with Liang Wenfeng and would visit Mr. Liang's home in Beijing.
However, this statement gradually evolved into: Hillhouse would not participate, but Zhang Lei would personally invest. The reasons for this vary, with some saying it is related to Hillhouse's fundraising pace and others mentioning regulatory issues.
But ultimately, neither Zhang Lei nor Hillhouse appeared on the list.
On the other hand, Sequoia China was almost always believed not to participate from the beginning. The most widely circulated version was concerns about overseas LPs. We asked many people close to Sequoia, and they also roughly expressed similar views. Of course, there are also some other rumors circulating.
In the end, the result is that both Sequoia and Hillhouse, two institutions that were almost impossible to miss, did not show up. A prominent lawyer told us that a company with RMB structure theoretically cannot remain hidden.
Among the traditional VCs, only IDG invested.
So someone asked us a question: Could DeepSeek be the biggest miss for Sequoia and Hillhouse?
It's a bit hard to say. However, from what we understand, DeepSeek may not only raise funds in this round.
100 Institutions and Individuals
Looking at the investor list, only 10 participated. However, "elsewhere" simply penetrated the fund entity and found that there were actually quite a few participants.
For example, behind Puquan Capital, the external CVC of Ningde Group, the contributors include: state-owned assets from Xiamen, Ordos, and Ningde Times-related entities, as well as the National Green Development Fund.
IDG Capital and several funds related to this transaction have a significant proportion of insurance funds, accounting for a high percentage of the $3 billion. In addition, there are related entities such as Nongfu Spring and Seven Wolves.
Monolith's current LPs are mainly state-owned assets in Zhejiang and Shanghai, as well as listed companies such as Tongcheng-Elong and Yanghe Shares.
In addition, Jiuan Medical is also one of the participants. In fact, Jiuan is also an LP behind many GPs.
A rough estimate, after shallow penetration and simple deduplication, reveals that there are approximately nearly 100 institutions or individuals participating in this round of DeepSeek financing.
Main Requirement: No Poaching
Regarding DeepSeek's investment terms, we won't go into details here. Just one additional point: Whether it's for a major corporation or a VC fund, Liang Wenfeng's most important requirement is: No poaching of DeepSeek's talents or instigating them to start their own ventures.
"China's Largest Public Company"
When it comes to a single investment, what kind of success rate does DeepSeek actually have?
One investor who participated once worried whether this might be an overly consensual investment. According to the investment industry's experience, consensual outcomes usually end up being resolved.
However, for DeepSeek, it's hard to say. Or rather, we can't understand it from a simple investment perspective. Whether it's its significance to China's AGI industry or its spiritual significance.
According to one investor: "They are doing all of this with great benevolence. He seems to be telling us: the world should have been like this from the beginning."
So, some hesitate, some believe, and some say they "can't find any reason not to invest"—if the IPO turns out as some people expect, could DeepSeek possibly become the largest A-share listed company in China?
Low-Key Yet Ambitious
When following the progress of DeepSeek's financing, there is a prominent feeling: for most people, DeepSeek is probably truly an unexpected answer. Even for the batch of investors who love to win, they never thought that one day it would open up financing.
So as mentioned earlier, most of the well-known investment tycoons, also recently connected with the company. Of course, objectively speaking, Liang Wenfeng has indeed not been visible to investors for a long time.
To the extent that after the financing news came out, many institutions did not even attempt to seek investment opportunities. But from the results, some relied on so-called synergy, some on cognition, some on brand spirit, some merely on hard work, and in the end, they still got the ticket.
「Elsewhere」 once tried to ask some investors, and most of them didn't want to discuss this investment much. The sensitivity of the transaction is only one aspect; more seems to be a kind of pride, so they hope to maintain this low-key self-awareness.
One participating investor said that throughout the entire transaction process, he cherished every document, hoping to frame them in the future. Another investor repeated twice the 16-character phrase from the DeepSeek V4 preview release: "Not tempted by fame, not fearful of slander, guiding the way with integrity, upright and self-disciplined."
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