Story perspectives

DeepSeek hires CITIC for STAR Market IPO in 2026

9/9/2026

Summary

DeepSeek Plans IPO

DeepSeek hired CITIC Securities to prepare a potential IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market.
The company plans to start the IPO process in 2026, with timing, size and valuation undecided.
A pre-IPO financing round could value DeepSeek at about 500 billion yuan (? $74 billion).
Founder Liang Wenfeng contributed 20 billion yuan to the financing round.
Tencent and CATL invested 10 billion and 5 billion yuan respectively.

Summary

DeepSeek Restructures Equity

DeepSeek is overhauling equity structure and shortening lock-up periods to meet STAR Market rules.
The National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund will join the capital increase as the sole first-round investor.
New investors’ shares lock for three years, while earlier indirect investors keep five-year lock-ups.
The Harness team hired 150 technical staff, raising DeepSeek’s workforce to about 300.
2026 revenue hit CNY 475 million, tenfold higher, while net loss was CNY 715 million.

History

Historical Context

After Xi Jinping announced the Science and Technology Innovation Board in November 2018, the Shanghai Stock Exchange launched the STAR Market on July 22 2019 to channel capital to breakthrough tech firms. By July 2026 the board’s market capitalisation reached 15.5 trillion yuan, encouraging new AI companies to seek STAR listings.

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DeepSeek Plans IPO

DeepSeek hired CITIC Securities to prepare a potential IPO on Shanghai’s STAR Market.
The company plans to start the IPO process in 2026, with timing, size and valuation undecided.
A pre-IPO financing round could value DeepSeek at about 500 billion yuan (? $74 billion).
Founder Liang Wenfeng contributed 20 billion yuan to the financing round.
Tencent and CATL invested 10 billion and 5 billion yuan respectively.

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