Details of DeepSeek’s Over 50 Billion Yuan Financing Exposed: Investors Barred from Poaching DeepSeek Employees or Encouraging Them to Start Their Own Ventures

CoinFeed, June 18 – According to a report by The Paper, DeepSeek has officially launched an image recognition mode on its web version, while the app version is in internal testing. The feature currently has limited accuracy, failing multiple times to correctly identify a photo of founder Liang Wenfeng, with the model ultimately suggesting that “saying ‘I don’t know’ is better than guessing wildly.” The report also disclosed that DeepSeek’s first round of financing, exceeding 50 billion yuan, has been largely finalized. Liang Wenfeng personally contributed approximately 20 billion yuan, making him the largest single investor; Tencent invested about 10 billion yuan; CATL and Puquan Capital together contributed about 5 billion yuan; NetEase, JD.com, Monolith Management, and IDG Capital each invested about 3 billion yuan; and Zhenxingu Investment and Shixiang Technology each invested about 1.5 billion yuan. Sources say one of the core investment terms is that investors are not allowed to poach DeepSeek employees or encourage them to leave and start their own businesses.