July 25 (Reuters) – Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has told prospective investors in its second fundraising round that it is suspending the deal for now, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Here are some details:
• DeepSeek verbally informed some of its potential backers that they would not be signing investment agreements in the coming days, the report said.
• The company might resume the deal process at a later date, Bloomberg News added.
• Reuters could not immediately verify the report. DeepSeek could not immediately be reached for comment outside regular business hours.
• Hangzhou-based DeepSeek planned to launch a fresh fundraise at a valuation of about 500 billion yuan ($74 billion), after a successful maiden round which raised about $7.4 billion.
• The pause was reportedly driven in part by DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng’s frustration over online reports on comments he made to investors during the startup’s first fundraising round.
• Reuters reported last week that DeepSeek had also started early deliberations on a potential IPO on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR Market.
(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru, Editing by Louise Heavens)