DeepSeek Hits $1 Billion Revenue Run Rate After Price Hikes

DeepSeek reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate, doubling its previous rate of under $500 million. This growth follows a strategic decision last month to increase application programming interface pricing by 2.3 to 4.5 times. The company maintained a stable customer base despite these hikes, driven by global demand for its cost-effective AI systems.

The startup is currently targeting a funding round of 50 billion yuan, approximately $7.5 billion, at a valuation exceeding $50 billion. To preserve founder control, the company is utilizing a limited partnership structure for this capital raise.

CEO Liang Wenfeng stated that the company plans a future listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. However, he noted that monetization remains secondary to research and development, with over 70% of the company's compute power still dedicated to training next-generation models.