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DeepSeek says no to outside investment — for now

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng

Liang Wenfeng, founder of startup DeepSeek, delivers a speech at the 10th China Private Equity Golden Bull Awards in 2019 in Shanghai, China.

VCG/VCG via Reuters
Scott Nover
By Scott NoverMarch 11, 2025
Scott Nover
Scott Nover is the lead writer for GZERO AI. He's a contributing writer for Slate and was previously a staff writer at Quartz and Adweek. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Fast Company, Vox.com, and The Washington Post, among other outlets. He currently lives near Washington, DC, with his wife and pup.
See Full Bio

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has shrugged off hungry requests to invest in the Chinese artificial intelligence startup, according to a Monday report in the Wall Street Journal.

The company’s AI models are open-source and free to use, and Liang is reportedly hesitant to take any outside investment that could change that.

The chatbot company has amassed millions of users while drawing scrutiny from global regulators concerned about a Chinese company handling sensitive user data. Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba are among those that have tried to invest in DeepSeek. The company is effectively controlled by Liang through his hedge fund High-Flyer, though the hedge fund spun off DeepSeek as an independent company when it was created in 2023.

For now, DeepSeek will continue to fly solo. But with pressure from investors, who knows how long Liang will be willing to hold on to the enterprise by himself?

liang wenfengaiartificial intelligencechinadeepseek

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