--- title: DeepSeek pauses fundraising after founder's leaked... description: DeepSeek has suspended its second fundraising round after founder Liang Wenfeng's private comments about China's AI gap with the US and heavy reliance on... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/deepseek-pauses-fundraising-after-founder-s-leaked-comments-go-viral-lrphhcody twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: DeepSeek pauses fundraising after founder's leaked comments go viral | daily.dev og:description: DeepSeek has suspended its second fundraising round after founder Liang Wenfeng's private comments about China's AI gap with the US and heavy reliance on... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/deepseek-pauses-fundraising-after-founder-s-leaked-comments-go-viral-lrphhcody og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/LRphHcody.png og:image:alt: DeepSeek pauses fundraising after founder's leaked comments go viral og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # DeepSeek pauses fundraising after founder's leaked comments go viral **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary DeepSeek has suspended its second fundraising round after founder Liang Wenfeng's private comments about China's AI gap with the US and heavy reliance on Nvidia chips were leaked and went viral on Chinese social media. The round had targeted a pre-money valuation of ~$71 billion. DeepSeek previously closed a $7 billion first round in June at a $50–52 billion valuation, with investors including Tencent and CATL. Despite the pause, the company may pursue an IPO as soon as this year. DeepSeek continues to prioritize open-source development and aggressive pricing, though this strategy raises questions about sustaining a $71 billion valuation. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [DeepSeek's $45bn valuation is also Beijing's strategic statement](https://daily.dev/posts/deepseek-s-45bn-valuation-is-also-beijing-s-strategic-statement-cng5qr4ft) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [DeepSeek could hit $45B valuation from its first investment round](https://daily.dev/posts/deepseek-could-hit-45b-valuation-from-its-first-investment-round-7otcarw9c) · TechCrunch · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [DeepSeek closes $7bn-plus round with an unusual structure](https://daily.dev/posts/deepseek-closes-7bn-plus-round-with-an-unusual-structure-m7c3t4nek) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#venture-capital](https://daily.dev/tags/venture-capital), [#nvidia](https://daily.dev/tags/nvidia), [#deepseek](https://daily.dev/tags/deepseek) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/deepseek-pauses-fundraising-after-founder-s-leaked-comments-go-viral-lrphhcody) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"DeepSeek pauses fundraising after founder's leaked comments go viral","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/deepseek-pauses-fundraising-after-founder-s-leaked-comments-go-viral-lrphhcody","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/deepseek-pauses-fundraising-after-founder-s-leaked-comments-go-viral-lrphhcody"},"datePublished":"2026-07-26T09:54:59.704Z","dateModified":"2026-07-26T18:40:51.467Z","description":"DeepSeek has suspended its second fundraising round after founder Liang Wenfeng's private comments about China's AI gap with the US and heavy reliance on...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8fcc6daf8bacbd25a70c13f186d4344d?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8fcc6daf8bacbd25a70c13f186d4344d?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/deepseek-pauses-fundraising-after-founder-s-leaked-comments-go-viral-lrphhcody","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai,open-source,venture-capital,nvidia,deepseek","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"DeepSeek pauses fundraising after founder's leaked comments go viral"}]} ```