China's AI startup DeepSeek raised $15 billion in its second private funding round, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Oct. 22, citing sources.

Investor interest pushed the amount raised to nearly double the initial target, the report said. DeepSeek is also bringing forward its listing schedule and is aiming for a Shanghai stock market debut in early next year. If it goes as planned, it could list before OpenAI and China’s AI company Moonshot AI, WSJ reported.

DeepSeek last year unveiled a cost-effective AI model that surprised U.S. technology companies. After that, more Chinese AI research and development companies also emerged to challenge U.S. dominance in AI.

Before this round closed, DeepSeek’s valuation was about $74 billion. China’s largest battery maker CATL and Tencent joined again after participating in an earlier investment. Existing shareholders Monolith Management and Shshang also put in additional funds.

This funding round ran from July to October. It took longer than at other AI companies because more investors kept joining during negotiations, WSJ reported.

DeepSeek selected state-owned investment bank CITIC Securities as its IPO adviser. In September, it hired venture capitalist Yen Wen-tao as chief financial officer (CFO).

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng (량원펑) told investors in September that annualised revenue reached $1 billion.