DeepSeek Seeks First External Funding at Valuation Above $10 Billion

The main claim is that DeepSeek is seeking its first outside funding at a valuation above $10 billion, to strengthen finances amid intensifying AI-model competition after attention from its R1 model. The strongest directly fetched evidence comes from 'DeepSeek正进行成立以来首次外部融资，目标估值超100亿美元 | PANews', which specifically says DeepSeek is pursuing its first external fundraising and targets a valuation above $10 billion, citing The Information. '机构人士回应DeepSeek启动首次外部融资：消息很有可能属实，目前完全投不进去 | PANews' independently repeats the same fundraising details and adds that market participants regarded the report as likely true. A Reuters search snippet also echoed 'China's DeepSeek is raising funds at $10 billion valuation, The Information reports,' which supports broader media corroboration, although the fetched Reuters page itself was unrelated and therefore not directly usable as validation. Because The Information article itself could not be fetched and the traced X post was inaccessible, confidence is medium rather than high.