Recently, three A-share listed companies, Jiuan Medical, Korrun and By-Health, have successively disclosed announcements of indirect investments in DeepSeek. Although the focus of the announcement is investment matters, the market is paying more attention to another piece of information. Through reverse calculation of shareholding ratio and investment amount, DeepSeek's post-investment valuation after the first round of financing is approximately 325 billion yuan to 350.9 billion yuan, which is close to previous rumors.
In the past few months, news surrounding DeepSeek’s financing and valuation have been circulating, but officials have remained silent. Therefore, the announcement of this listed company has become one of the most valuable sources of information currently available in the market.
The investment announcement clearly boosted the company's share price. On the morning of July 20, Jiu'an Medical (002432.SZ) opened at the daily limit, followed by Korrun (300577.SZ) and By-Health (300146.SZ), which also rose by more than 5%. However, as sentiment cooled, the stock prices of the three companies had fallen back by the close of the morning. Despite this, in just 5 trading days since July 14, Jiu'an Medical's share price has increased by nearly 50%.
Jiu'an Medical's announcement shows that the company's wholly-owned subsidiary Jiu'an Hong Kong has indirectly invested in Hangzhou DeepSeek (hereinafter referred to as DeepSeek) through Tianjin Shixiang Investment Partnership. Jiu'an Hong Kong has invested 750 million yuan. At present, the company has completed the paid-in capital contribution and delivery of investment matters.
The company mentioned that after the penetration, Jiu'an Medical indirectly holds about 0.21% of DeepSeek's equity, which is a very low shareholding ratio. It does not participate in DeepSeek's operations and cannot control it. At the same time, this investment has the characteristics of long payback period and low liquidity, and objectively there is the risk of being unable to exit in a timely and effective manner. In addition to investing in DeepSeek, Jiuan Medical also disclosed in another announcement that it has participated in investments in AI companies such as Dark Side of the Moon.
Although there is an indirect shareholding ratio, Jiu'an Medical did not mention the actual payment amount. DeepSeek's valuation cannot be calculated based on this data alone. In contrast, the announcements of the other two listed companies provide more information for calculation.
Korrun's announcement shows that its wholly-owned subsidiary Ningbo Purun Investment Partnership used 40 million yuan of its own funds to participate in the investment in Tianjin Lisi Xingling Venture Capital Partnership as a limited partner. Lisi Xingling will invest all 2.9 billion yuan in paid-in funds to indirectly invest in DeepSeek by subscribing for the corresponding share of Hangzhou Chengli Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership. Lisi Xingling's indirect shareholding ratio is 0.8265%.
Based on Lisi Xingling’s 2.9 billion yuan investment and 0.8265% shareholding ratio, DeepSeek’s valuation is roughly 350.877 billion yuan.
The announcement states that Ningbo Purun’s final shareholding ratio in DeepSeek is only 0.0114%, which will not have a significant impact on the company’s overall performance. At the same time, the investment targets are in the early stages of development and still face risks such as deviations in technical routes and intensified industry competition, resulting in returns that are less than expected.
Another company, By-Health, also disclosed that the company indirectly holds a 0.04% stake in Shenzhen Search for 130 million yuan through Lisi Xingling. Based on this calculation, the corresponding valuation of in-depth search is about 325 billion yuan.
There is a difference of approximately 25 billion yuan between the two sets of figures. The market generally believes that this is mainly due to factors such as rounding of shareholding ratios and different accounting methods for intermediate investment platforms. 325 billion yuan to 350 billion yuan is most likely the current more realistic valuation range of DeepSeek.
As early as April this year, it was reported that DeepSeek had launched its first external equity financing, which was mainly used to continue to increase the research and development of large models, expand computing resources, etc. It was not until Tianyancha disclosed on June 15 that DeepSeek received 51 billion yuan in Series A financing, and the post-investment valuation mentioned at that time was about 330 billion yuan.
On July 14, DeepSeek completed the change in registered capital, which increased from 15 million yuan to nearly 16.45 million yuan, with new shareholders Hangzhou Cheng Li and the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund Partnership.
According to previous media reports, the lineup of this round of financing is luxurious. DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng may invest approximately 20 billion yuan, making him the largest single investor in this round of financing. Tencent invested about 10 billion yuan, CATL invested about 5 billion yuan, NetEase, JD.com, Monolith Capital, and IDG Capital each invested about 3 billion yuan, Zhengxingu Investment and Shixiang Technology each invested about 1.5 billion yuan, and the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund invested about 980 million yuan.
Just recently, news of a new round of financing has also begun to spread. Some media said that DeepSeek has begun negotiations with some new investors to prepare for the next round of financing. As of now, there has been no public confirmation from the company.
A domestic investor who participated in DeepSeek's financing negotiations told China Business News that DeepSeek opened financing to a small number of institutions on an invitation-only basis, but DeepSeek has many restrictions on the terms of investment institutions. The investor said that he recognized that DeepSeek's capabilities were among the best in the world, but ultimately chose not to invest. Because the information disclosed by DeepSeek is not enough for the institution to make a comprehensive investment judgment, including how to proceed with commercialization and a clear exit path, etc.
As financing progresses, the founder’s worth continues to rise. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index updated on July 15,Liang Wenfeng ranks 63rd on the global rich list with a net worth of US$36 billion (approximately RMB 244 billion), becoming the world's most valuable entrepreneur in the field of pure AI large models. His wealth has increased by US$19.9 billion since the beginning of the year.