DeepSeek prepares listing on Shanghai's STAR Market by 2026

The Chinese company is preparing the listing on the STAR Market in Shanghai by 2026, while timing, valuations and collection objectives remain to be defined. The race for the IPO is part of an increasingly competitive AI market, with Chinese and US companies busy raising capital and retaining talent

The Hangzhou startup, founded in July 2023, is preparing to go public. According to information gathered by Reuters, Deepseek has started preliminary procedures for a possible IPO (initial public offering) on ​​the STAR Market in Shanghai by the end of 2026, with the investment bank Citic Securities in charge of the operation.

Timing and parameters of the offer still to be defined

IPO date, raising amount and final valuation have not been established. Reuters reports that neither DeepSeek nor Citic Securities responded to requests for comment. Sources close to the dossier confirm that the financial details of the offer remain under evaluation.

Recent funding rounds

In July, Reuters reported that DeepSeek was engaged in a round that would value it at 500 billion yuan (about $75 billion). Investor documents indicate the company raised $7.4 billion in June, reaching a post-money valuation of more than $50 billion. In the June round, founder Liang Wenfeng personally invested 20 billion yuan, while Tencent and battery maker CATL contributed 10 billion and 5 billion yuan respectively, becoming the largest external shareholders.

The race to go public with AI companies

The push to the stock market comes as several companies in the sector seek public capital to support growing costs related to data centers and highly qualified personnel. Chinese companies already listed include Z.AI and MiniMax, both of which will arrive in Hong Kong in 2026. Beijing-based startup Moonshot has submitted an application for listing, with a valuation of around $50 billion, lower than that of DeepSeek and Z.AI.

The gap with US ratings

The valuations of Chinese companies remain distant from those of their US competitors. According to investors cited by Reuters, Anthropic could aim for a valuation of up to $2 trillion in its IPO, while OpenAI could reach $1 trillion.