DeepSeek's Third 2026 Round Comes In at $7.3B as CATL Circles

DeepSeek, a privately held developer of foundation models and AGI-focused research, has added a $7.3B funding round dated September 21, 2026, according to AI Funding's company tracker. The round carries a $50.0B valuation and brings the company's cumulative disclosed funding to $21.4B across three rounds, all raised between May and September 2026.

The investor list for the new round is not disclosed in the tracker. The round is linked to a report from The Information headlined "Chinese EV Battery Giant CATL Plans to Invest in DeepSeek," suggesting the battery maker is positioning itself as a backer, though the terms and structure of any CATL participation are not laid out.

What DeepSeek does is stated plainly: it builds foundation models and AGI research platforms for organizations and research institutions that need large-scale model capabilities and deployment. The company sits in the foundational-models and AGI segment rather than a single vertical application, a positioning that puts it in the same category as OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, xAI and Safe Superintelligence on the tracker's related-companies list.

The size of the raise is the headline number, but the cadence behind it is arguably the more striking detail. DeepSeek's first external financing closed on May 8, 2026 — a $4.0B round reportedly backed by Tencent as lead alongside Hillhouse, at a $50B valuation. Two weeks later, on May 22, a $10.0B round advanced, with the company's founder publicly declaring an AGI goal. The September round adds another $7.3B on top.

The tracker's overview frames that first round as notable external validation, and the subsequent capital raised since has differentiated DeepSeek by scale of funding within the AGI space. The $50B valuation attached to both the May 8 round and the September 21 round implies pricing has held steady even as the company absorbed roughly $17.3B in new capital over the intervening months.

For context, the tracker lists OpenAI at $193.9B in total raised, Anthropic at $167.5B, Meta at $61.6B, and xAI at $12.5B. DeepSeek's $21.4B sits between the largest US labs and the second-tier of foundation-model challengers — a remarkable position for a company whose disclosed funding history spans only three entries.

DeepSeek is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Investors disclosed in the tracker across its history are Tencent and Hillhouse, both tied to the May 8 round. The tracker does not state what the new capital will be used for.

The remaining unknown is who, beyond CATL's reported interest, is writing the checks for the September round — and whether a battery manufacturer's involvement signals anything about where DeepSeek's compute and infrastructure needs are heading.