DeepSeek looks for fresh capital as founder’s quant empire navigates China’s choppy IPO market

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI lab founded by Liang Wenfeng, is seeking outside investors to fund its growth while its parent organization High-Flyer Quant (a hedge fund that uses AI and machine learning to trade stocks) has invested heavily in pre-IPO placements (shares bought before a company goes public) in Chinese tech companies like chip makers and robotics firms. High-Flyer's revenue has become unstable due to recent volatility in AI and chip stocks, making it difficult for the fund to continue financing DeepSeek's expanding needs for capital and computing power.